Rebecca
Douberly Gorman Doctoral
Candidate Department of Anthropology University of Florida
Research
Rebecca
D. Gorman and Ryan M. VanDyke University of Florida
In conjunction
with the 2008 University of Florida Fort George Island Field
School and under the direction of graduate students Rebecca
D. Gorman and Ryan M. VanDyke, undergraduate and graduate
students completed the second half of a two year reevaluation
of the Spanish/Mocaman mission of San Juan del Puerto. First
identified by John Goggin in 1951, the mission doctrina of
San Juan del Puerto (8Du53), located on the western side of
Fort George Island, has been the subject of limited archaeological
surveys and excavations conducted primarily in an effort to
delineate the mission period extent of the site. The
current reconsideration of this site is important for a cohesive
understanding of the mission period occupation, and the many
surrounding prehistoric and historic archaeological sites.
Moreover, this research is substantially important for a better
understanding of questions pertaining to the processes of
Mocaman cultural continuity and change before and throughout
the duration of the Spanish mission period in the Southeast.
San Juan del Puerto was founded by Franciscan missionaries
in 1587 as a mission doctrina serving nine satellite mission
visitas within the Northeastern Florida Timucuan province.
The mission was established within or near the precontact
Timucuan village of Alimacani, becoming the southernmost mission
of the Mocama territory, which spanned south from Fort George
Island north to St. Simons Island. San Juan del Puerto
was in continuous use until Florida’s missions were
attacked and destroyed by the English and their native allies
in 1702.
This mission site diverges from what has been recorded at
other missions prior to aggregation. Most late St Marys period
(A.D. 1100-1450) through San Pedro period (A.D. 1450-1625)
occupations are similar, with other Mocama missions such as
San Pedro de Mocama showing high levels of San Pedro ceramics
in domestic contexts prior to 1665. San Marcos series ceramics,
which are more typically recovered from Guale occupation sites
in Georgia’s coastal mission chain, statistically predominate
the San Juan assemblage. According to Spanish documentary
evidence San Juan del Puerto remained a Mocama mission throughout
the mission period, never receiving the significant numbers
of Guale or Yamassee immigrants that other missions confronted
due to population aggregation spurred by the breakdown of
northern coastal missions. Instead San Juan was primarily
the destination for other Mocama speakers like themselves.
The overarching
purpose of this research is to use Fort George Island and
the mission site of San Juan del Puerto as a microcosm for
the study of continuity and change within the Mocama people
of Northeast Florida through the study of materiality as an
interactive, social construction based on practice. Through
this theoretical lens, pottery transitions on Fort George
Island can be viewed as a continuous relational process based
on social memory and precedent. Since the site of San Juan
del Puerto remained Mocama throughout the late Precolumbian
and mission periods this notion is particularly valid.
Excavations at San Juan del Puerto have included both Aboriginal
and European contexts in an effort to confirm and redefine
prior archaeological interpretations of the site. Shovel
tests and excavation units were placed in the Spanish mission
core area, various domestic middens, and a possible Aboriginal
public activity area. These areas represent the mission occupation
at various moments in time, which when compared spatially
and stratigraphically exhibit gradual pottery transitions
in closed contexts. The recovered artifacts currently
under analysis will no doubt further the understanding of
Mocama continuity and change in the St. Marys region.
For further information about the archaeological investigations
at this site, contact Rebecca D. Gorman (rgorman1@ufl.edu)
and Ryan M. VanDyke (ryanmvan5@ufl.edu).
