Investigating the 1565 Menéndez Defenses Field Report on the 2011-2015 Excavations at the Fountain of Youth Park Site, St. Augustine Kathleen Deagan Florida Museum of Natural History Florida Museum of Natural History Miscellaneous Papers in Archaeology # 62 Gainesville, November 15 2016 Deagan-FOY-2016 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements……………………..………………………………………………………… .ii List of Figures……………………………………………………….……………………………… vi List of Tables …………………………………………………………….........................................vii Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………… 1 Cultural and Historical Setting……………………………………………………………………. 2 Previous excavations………………………………………………………………………............. .8 The Spanish Defenses……………………………………………………………………………... 11 Documentary Accounts…………………………………………………………………………….14 Map Evidence………………………………………………………………………………………16 Archaeological Analogy……………………………………………………………………………17 2011-2013 Field Seasons……………………………………………………………………………21 A Hypothesized Casa de Municiones………………………………………………………………22 Defining a potential northern periphery wall……………………………………………………….27 Testing for the presence of a Timucua Chief’s “House”…………………………………………...31 Discovery of the 1951 Excavations Records………………………………………………………39 Investigating trench features to the north of the presumed northern perimeter wall……………….45 Ground Penetrating Radar Survey………………………………………………………….………57 A large Timucuan building………………………………………………………………………...60 Assessing the evidence for a Timucuan “Council House”……………………………………….. 73 Summary of Results………………………………………………………………………………...82 Potential Casa de Municiones or other large Spanish building……………………………………..83 A northern perimeter wall or boundary……………………………………………………………..85 Trench features to the north of the presumed perimeter wall……………………………………….86 A large Timucuan Building or Chief’s House………………………………………………………87 Spatial Organization…………………………………………………………………………………89 REFERENCES CITED……………………………………………………………………… 98 APPENDIX 1 Excavation and Recording Protocols 106 APPENDIX 2 Materials Excavated During the 1951-2 Project 110 APPENDIX 3 Locations of 1953 Northern "wall tests" (From Hahn field cards) 116 APPENDIX 4 Report of Ground Penetrating Radar Survey by J. Schultz and K. Gidusky 118 APPENDIX 5 Radiometric Dates from 8SJ31 130 APPENDIX 6 Distribution of Artifacts from Excavations South of Grid Northing 490N (1976-2015) 132 APPENDIX 7 Distribution of Artifacts from Excavations North of Grid Northing 490 151 i Deagan-FOY-2016 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The 2011-2015 projects at the Fountain of Youth Park site were made possible through the generous support of the Historic St. Augustine Research Institute and the St. Augustine Foundation at Flagler College, the Fountain of Youth Park Properties, Inc. the Lastinger Family Foundation, the Florida Museum of Natural History and the University of Florida Institute for Early Contact Period Studies. A great many individuals and agencies have made this work both possible and productive, not only during the current project reported here, but over many years of archaeological work in St. Augustine. We would particularly like to thank the Fraser family- John R., Brian, Elaine and Steve – for more than 30 years of support and enthusiasm for this project, including ongoing permission to work on the property. They, and the entire staff of the Fountain of Youth Park, have provided logistical support of the excavations in many large and small ways – water for screening, help in backfilling, cheerful repairs of spigots run over by field vehicles, great crew parties, and too many others ways to individually list here. They have also protected the archaeological resources within the park for more than 30 years from ground-impacting activity. I thank them for their hospitality, patience and good humor throughout that time. The Fraser family also helped to provide pertinent information and photographs relating to the recent history of the property and the changes that have been made over the years. We also thank the late Bill Edmiston and Greer Edmiston of Edmiston and Edmiston, P.A., Trustees of the Fountain of Youth Properties, Inc. They have given us all wise counsel and a steady guiding hand in fiscal and other matters related to the many archaeological projects at the site. Carl Halbirt and the City of St. Augustine Archaeology program have provided innumerable kinds of assistance and invaluable advice over the years. Carl has been present on site ii Deagan-FOY-2016 regularly, sharing ideas and helping sort out interpretations. He has also generously released his volunteer crew members to help us in the field on many occasions. At his instigation, the City of St. Augustine Public Works Department has provided us with superbly skilled assistance in grading excavation areas, taking overhead photography and in sinking well points, for which we are most grateful. Much of the work at the Fountain of Youth Park has been carried out by the people who have volunteered to provide their time, skills and energy to the project. We are especially grateful to the members of the St. Augustine Archaeological Association, who have joined us over the years to provide volunteer labor, moral support, and advice. We especially want to thank Tommy Abood for the many weeks he spent with us volunteering his time in the field, and keeping the mudflows from water screening under control. The field crews during the 2011-2015 period covered in this report exercised the skill and dedication that were essential to carrying out this work. I thank Janet Jordan, Sarah Bennett, Courney Boren, Linda Chandler, Brandi Hamm, Jim Doyle, Mischa Johns, Peter Larson, Greg Smith and David Underwood. Courtney Crum of the Flagler College Archaeology Club spent many hours during St. Augustine’s critical 450th anniversary year providing information and interpretation to the crowds of visitors who visited the Fountain of Youth Park. Dr. Gifford Waters of the Florida Museum of Natural History has participated in the work through the years, providing logistical support, and providing supervision in both the field and the analysis and curation of the excavated materials from the site. He and continues to manage and oversee the 8SJ31 collection at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Invaluable information and insights have been provided by a great many colleagues who have collaborated with us over the years. Dr. Eugene Lyon has devoted many hours over the course of the project to providing us with guidance, advice, interpretation and critical new historical iii Deagan-FOY-2016 information. Likewise, Prof. Herschel Shepard has helped us immensely in identifying and interpreting architectural features, and much of our work has been guided by Herschel’s architectural hypotheses and insights. Dr. Paul Hoffman of Louisiana State University has also provided us with most useful critical reviews of our reports from a historical perspective over the years. Dr. Michael Gannon of the University of Florida has been a decades-long source of historical inspiration and endless moral support. Dr. John Schultz of the University of Central Florida contributed many days to conducting and analyzing the ground penetrating radar survey of the site, and Dr. Ryan Williams of the Chicago Field Museum generously carried out the magnetometer survey. Maurice Williams directed the initial electromagnetic conductivity survey and topographic mapping programs at the site. Dr. Ed Tennant of the University of Florida designed and implemented the GIS system that now integrates the data resulting from all years of archaeology at the Fountain of Youth Park, and will continue to organize it. Dr. Willie Horton and graduate student Chip Chilton of the University of Florida Soil Sciences Department spend time with us on site, helping us analyze and interpret the non-cultural soil stratigraphy. Their core samples, and discussion of coastal soils educated us in a new way about the site, and aided greatly in both interpreting the soils and developing future strategies. Environmental Archaeologist Sylvia Scudder of the Florida Museum of Natural History has also given freely of her time and advice on the many occasions of our questions about site soils. Dr. Betsy Reitz and her students of the University of Georgia have carried out the analyses of faunal remains from the site since the project’s beginning, not only reconstructing the diets of the site’s inhabitants, but also helping us reconstruct the taphonomy and formation processes of the site itself. Zooarchaeologist Irv Quitmeyer of the Florida Museum of Natural History, has provided a iv Deagan-FOY-2016 great many shell identifications for us over the years, and well as discussions of procurement strategies for them. In addition to her skillful reconstruction of pottery vessels, Ceramic Technologist Ann Cordell of the Florida Museum of Natural History has likewise provided us with countless identification of pottery types, paste composition and minerals from the Fountain of Youth Park. She has also incorporated samples from the site into her ongoing studies of Florida indigenous pottery to help us better understand the production traditions and exchange patterns of pottery represented at the site. I and my co-workers at the Fountain of Youth Park have constantly benefited and continuously learned from discussions and review of our data with colleagues working in other Spanish colonial sites. Thanks to Keith Ashley, Chester DePratter, Buff Gordon, Carl Halbirt, Bonnie McEwan, Jerry Milanich, Vicki Rolland, Stan South, David Thomas, Gifford