The Spanish Missions of La Florida

Book excerpt: "A major compendium of the latest effort of a truly blue-ribbon group of scholars. . . . The volume is certain to be a classic among scholars of archaeology, history, and geography, not only in Florida and the Southeast, but among the large numbers involved in Spanish colonial research elsewhere."--Robert L. Hoover, California Polytechnic State University "Continues brilliantly the pattern of excellence established by . . . pioneer mission scholars, [with] much to appeal to the specialist as well as the layman. . . . a good deal of simple, direct, and very interesting writing."--Fred Lamar Pearson, Jr., Valdosta State College This multidisciplinary volume brings together the latest findings of most of the scholars working in southeastern mission studies today, including much information never before published or narrowly circulated. Aimed at a broad audience, it reports the direct results of field research on mission sites. The authors are grappling with the effects of missionization through archaeology, history, bioarchaeology, zooarchaeology, and ethnobotany in order to understand both native and Spanish colonial inhabitants. Contents The Archaeology of Mission Santa Catalina de Guale: Our First Fifteen Years, by David Hurst Thomas Architecture of the Missions Santa Maria and Santa Catalina de Amelia, by Rebecca Saunders The Archaeology of the Convento de San Francisco, by Kathleen Hoffman St. Augustine and the Mission Frontier, by Kathleen Deagan The Mayaca and Jororo and Missions to Them, by John H. Hann Mission Santa Fe de Toloca, by Kenneth Johnson Archaeology of Fig Springs Mission, Ichetucknee Springs State Park, by Brent R. Weisman Spanish-Indian Interaction on the Florida Missions: The Archaeology of Baptizing Spring, by L. Jill Loucks Excavations in the Fig Springs Mission Burial Area, by Lisa M. Hoshower and Jerald T. Milanich Archaeological Investigations at Mission Patale, 1984-1991, by Rochelle A. Marrinan Hispanic Life on the Seventeenth-Century Florida Frontier, by Bonnie G. McEwan On the Frontier of Contact: Mission Bioarchaeology in La Florida, by Clark Spencer Larsen Plant Production and Procurement in Apalachee Province, by C. Margaret Scarry Evidence for Animal Use at the Missions of Spanish Florida, by Elizabeth J. Reitz Beads and Pendants from San Luis de Talimali: Inferences from Varying Contexts, by Jeffrey M. Mitchem A Distributional and Technological Study of Apalachee Colono-Ware from San Luis de Talimali, by Richard Vernon and Ann S. Cordell Bonnie G. McEwan is the director of archaeology at San Luis Archaeological and Historic Site in Tallahassee.