Welcome to the South Florida Chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America

Come join us at our monthly meetings held on the first Thursday of each month or attend one of our AIA sponsored lectures. Activities include discussions, videos, field trips, and mini-conferences offering the presentation of papers concerning the latest reseach being conducted in southern Florida. You may contact us at aiasfl@gmail.com or if you would like additional details please contact Peter Ferdinando, AIASFL Coordinator at pferdinando@pbmnh.org

The South Florida Chapter of the
Archaeological Institute of America

Archaeology and Anthropology
Field trips

• Plantation Historical Museum:
  Saturday, March 20th from 1-4pm,
  Tour and refeshments provided free of charge
• Guided Tour of ‘Expedition Ice Age’ Exhibit
• Event will also include a viewing of ‘Henry’ the juvenile triceratops & Robert Feeney Presenting ‘Expedition Amazon, A Journey to the Twilight People’
• Museum Location: 511 North Fig Tree Lane, Plantation, FL 33317

• Boca Raton Art Museum:
  Mark your calendars for May
• Details coming soon
  
  2010 Lecture Series
  

Native American Towns and Spanish Colonists
in Western North Carolina, 1540 - 1568

by Dr. Chris Rodning, Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology, Tulane University

Wednesday, March 24th at 7pm
Location: TBA

Lecture Abstract:

A summary of documentary evidence of Spanish exploration in western North Carolina from 1540 to 1568, and it discusses ongoing archaeological investigations of the effects of early encounters between Native American groups and Spanish colonists in western North Carolina during the sixteenth century. Seventeen years after Hernando de Soto traversed western North Carolina, in 1540, expeditions led by Captain Juan Pardo attempted to establish permanent Spanish settlements in the interior Southeast, at the northern edge of the Spanish province of La Florida. Throughout the sixteenth century, Spanish colonists had attempted to establish an overland route connecting La Florida to New Spain, in what is now Mexico and the American Southwest. As part of this effort, Pardo established six forts in the Carolinas and in eastern Tennessee. His primary outpost, Fort San Juan, was built in 1567 at the Native American town of Joara, located at the Berry site, in the upper Catawba River Valley of western North Carolina.

For more information, please contact:
Peter Ferdinando
Coordinator, AIA-South Florida
pferdinando@pbmnh.org