San Franciso de Potano was the central Franciscan mission in the interior Timucua region of La Florida. Occupied for 100 years (1606-1706), this mission witnessed a volatile history marked by displacement and re-settlement related to the Timucua revolt, the aggregation of populations from abandoned missions elsewhere, and eventual mass exodus due to slaving pressures from the Carolina colony. Our summary of two seasons of investigations focuses on insights on site organization gained from systematic metal detecting survey, the delineation of activity areas based on targeted excavations, and the complex occupational history as inferred from artifact analyses. Our research emphasizes the importance of the mission landscape approach advocated by Lee Panich and Tsim Schneider, where San Francisco de Potano can be viewed as a coalescent community shaped by a shifting network of Indigenous groups, Spanish interests, and global geopolitics such as Queen Anne’s War.

The North End Field Site (9MC81) on Creighton Island, GA is a large multi-component coastal site with intensive occupation from ca. AD 1300 – 1900. This occupation includes an extensive 16th and 17^th century Spanish mission-era settlement thought to be the location of Mission Santa Clara de Tupiqui, a Franciscan mission in the province of Guale. In this paper we present the results of ongoing archaeological surveys and excavations at this site. These surveys include a six hectare, multimethod (magnetic gradiometry, ground penetrating radar, and electrical resistance), geophysical survey that has located the probable mission church and helped define the footprint of the colonial settlement.

In this paper, we investigate the connections between Creole and Indigenous identities in Mobile, Alabama, through archival research, oral history interviews, and archaeological evidence from the ongoing I-10 Mobile River Bridge Archaeological Project and contemporaneous archaeological sites in the Mobile Bay area. In Mobile, “Creole” typically refers to some combination of European, African, and Indigenous ancestry. The combination is not often clear in the historical records. Furthermore, Indigenous history in Mobile is fraught with uncertainty and turbidity due to the vagaries of Census-takers and the pressures shaping self-identification. However, oral history interviews, including one with civil rights activist Dorothy Parker Williams, mention Choctaw and indigenous ancestry and recent archaeological excavations at a property belonging to her “Creole” ancestors turned up historic Choctaw pottery, providing new leads into the formation of Creole culture in Mobile.

The homeland of The Caddo Nation encompasses portions of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. The United States acquired title, within Western legal traditions, to a major portion of that land through the Louisiana Purchase of 1804. In the wake of that purchase came thousands of American settlers who built a new world, their world, in those lands. Doing so involved dispossessing Caddo and other indigenous groups and also replacing and remodeling their social, economic, and political networks, culminating in the forced removal of the Caddos by treaty in 1835. This was a structured process that involved many sections of American society and which left a distinct archeological record. This paper examines that period of 1804-1835 in the American portion of the Caddo homeworld to highlight the progress and potential for better understanding processes of Settler Colonialism within a specific context.

In the early 19th century, a wave of German immigrants flooded into southwest Illinois, establishing vibrant multi-ethnic communities. The Illinois State Archaeological Survey (ISAS) is exploring community formation in relation to large-scale immigration by studying three farmstead sites in St. Clair County, Illinois. Although these farmsteads were spatially isolated, they represent an emerging group identity. The architecture, foodways, and social practices found on these farms fostered dynamic German American customs that continued to evolve. By understanding these cultural practices, rooted in everyday life and the immigrant experience, we gain insights into often-overlooked evidence present in the archaeological record. Our investigation of the material culture found in these resilient hybrid communities speaks to contemporary society by challenging the narratives that obscure past complexity and by presenting examples of a deeper, lasting diversity in the rural Midwest.

Some of the most significant archaeological sites in the world are situated in areas currently described as "slum" or "blighted." The term "slum" carries complex social implications, and applying this label can influence perceptions of spaces where notable historical communities developed. This raises the question of how to convey a sense of place when the present-day visual environment does not clearly reflect its historical context. It is also possible that these cultural deposits are located in areas that past populations may have considered less desirable. This presentation will examine how describing locations as slums, both in the past and the present, has influenced current perspectives regarding which historical archaeological sites are regarded as significant within our understanding of history.