Rehabilitation of the Pineland Collections

FAIN: PZ-50073-07

University of Florida (Gainesville, FL 32611-0001)
William H. Marquardt (Project Director: October 2006 to December 2011)

The purchase of storage furniture and supplies to rehouse 141,443 artifacts obtained from excavations conducted in 1988-95 at the Calusa Indian settlement at Pinelands, Florida, that dated to 50-1710 CE.

The Florida Museum of Natural History (University of Florida) requests assistance for rehabilitating the artifacts and records associated with the Pineland Site Complex of coastal southwest Florida. Pineland was the second-largest town of the now-extinct Calusa Indians, who achieved social and political complexity, developed elaborate religious beliefs and sophisticated artwork, engaged in long-distance trade, built earthworks and canals, and demanded tribute from dozens of towns, all without having staple-crop agriculture. The collection results from Florida Museum projects from 1988 through 1995. Every aspect of the work involved public participation through volunteerism, high levels of public visitation, and public-school programming. We propose to rehabilitate the collection by logically ordering each component; resolving provenience, cataloging, and locational issues; rehousing each component using archival enclosures and containers; and creating finding aids for each component.