Grounds and Artifacts at Mission San Luis 2

This is another view of the vegetable garden on the grounds of Mission San Luis in Tallahassee, Florida. The Apalachee Indians had different work for both women and men. The men cleared fields, hunted and fished for food, did the building and made tools. The women collected wild foods, tended the gardens and crops, reared children, cooked, made clay dishes and pots, ground corn and grains and prepared skins.

Pictured here is one of many clay pots found on the excavation site. It has a piece of leather skin covering it. The rattle (I'm guessing what that is) is made from an animal hoof and some kind of dried gourd.

The other photo shows some woven baskets in the process of being made. The same type of weave was used for the table coverings and for the beds around the inside of the walls of the Council House.

The Council House was used for all kinds of things besides meetings. There were religious and ceremonial activities, including dances, rituals and preparations for war.

Grounds and Artifacts at Mission San Luis

The grounds at Mission San Luis are beautifully manicured. I was surprised when I went to Tallahassee to hear that they have 4 distinct seasons. In St Petersburg, we are more sub-tropical and our seasons kind of blend together. We have no bare trees to speak of, and our grass is green all year unless there's a drought. There are also hills and mountains in Tallahassee unlike St Pete, where everything is flat. One would never guess both cities are in the same state.

In the foreground is one of the gardens where vegetables are grown. Right now, there's not much growing because it is Winter, but in the Spring and Summer, it is full of seasonal veggies. If you look closely, you can see the Friary in the background. I have more on that to show in a future post. It is still a working Friary today.

This artifact was recovered during the excavations I mentioned in an earlier post. I have no idea what it is used for, but I'm amazed at all the carving the natives did with primitive tools. Those swirls must've taken a long time to carve into that stone. It could be clay and they had some sort of mold; I'm not sure, but it looks like stone to me.

In the photo below, that definitely is a jaw, but if you look closely, there are rows of teeth like a shark. I don't know where they'd find a shark skeleton, since they're about 85 - 100 miles of the shore. It is also skewed and I can't figure out how they did that, or what they planned on doing with it.

These artifacts make me more curious about their culture, how they lived and worked and the technology they had. We only know so little about the Apalachee way back in the day around 300 years ago. Life must've been pretty tough for them.

Home on Mission San Luis Grounds and Artifacts

Whenever I travel and do the "tourist" thing, I try to make a photo of every sign at the place so I can remember what I saw. Apparently, I missed this sign. I remember seeing it and now I don't remember what this building was and when it was built.

Not knowing the significance of this home on the grounds of Mission San Luis which was obviously built during a later period makes me curious now. That is the reason I tell my photography students to take pictures of any signs when visiting for the first time. This is the consequence of not following my own advice. If any of you have visited the Mission and know what this house signifies, please let me know in the comments. I certainly would appreciate it. The mission was used until 1967 so this home could be that one of the leaders or maybe it was the home of a prominent citizen.

The second photo was on a table in the Council House. (If any of you didn't see that photo, just look back a couple of days to find it and to learn more about Mission San Luis in Tallahassee.) These look like they could be either eating or cooking utensils. Your guess is as good as mine. I wish the volunteer was able to spend more time with me so I'd know what these were used for.

The final clay pot was used as a smudge pot and was on the same table as the others. There were smudge pots on all the tables and near all the "beds" along the outer walls of the Council House. The smudge pots were for burning corn cobs to keep the mosquitos away.

The Apalachee Indians wasted nothing. There was no such thing as trash in those early days. They were the original "green people". We could learn a lot from them.

Some Artifacts from Mission San Luis

I guess by now you're all figuring out I had a wonderful time at the Mission San Luis in Tallahassee. I learned so much about the Apalachee Indians and the Spaniards that co-existed at the mission.

The artifacts to the left were found during one of the archaeological digs. The archaeological investigations began in the 1940's by three founding fathers of Archaeology. They were John W Griffin in 1948, Hale G Smith in 1950 and Charles H Fairbanks in 1956 and 1957.

Once Florida bought the site, the archaeology staff continued to conduct systematic excavation in the fort and the village from 1990 to 2002. These are some of their finds.

The skeletal remains were on the tables in the Council House. I have no idea what they came from, but the one on the bottom seems to be from some kind of canine, I think. If anyone of you out there can shed some light on the subject, I'd sure be interested in knowing and very appreciative.

The woman I was speaking with that was explaining everything to me had to go to guard the chickens because the other lady on the grounds saw a Fox. She wasn't quite finished, so I didn't get a chance to ask about these skeletal remains.

This one looks like some kind of canine, but I could be wrong. I'm not a Vet or an Archaeologist.

The second one is anyone's guess. It doesn't look like a skull. I can't imagine what it came from. I can't even tell what body part it is. It's an interesting piece, though. It doesn't look like it could've been used as a tool, so why was it kept? I wish I had the answers. Maybe I'll never know.

I think that's the end of the gross stuff. I promise tomorrow night the stuff will be a little bit easier to look at.

Apalachee Council House Interior

This is a 7-shot panoramic image of the inside of the Apalachee Council House. If you saw my blog last night, you saw the outside. You'll have to click on this photo to see all the detail.

The women were not allowed in the Council House during meetings, but they came in here to do some of their work. The tables contain various artifacts of things in progress, like some unfinished baskets, Hickory nuts, they gathered and several pelts they were drying.

In the center of the room, there is a pile of wood they burned 24/7. The smoke went out the open hole in the top. When I asked the guide what kept the rain out, she told me the heat of the fire and the smoke evaporated the rain immediately so it (the rain) didn't get in and get the place all wet.

Under the tables are little black holes. They're called smug pots. They burned corn cobs in them to keep out the mosquitos. Along the edges of the hut are beds made from woven Palm fronds. Nothing was ever wasted. They'd crack the Hickory nuts and make mush out of them. The meat and inner shell was used to make a tea that had enough caffeine as several pots of coffee. The outer shell was boiled down to make paint and dye for their furniture and clothing.

All the tools were handmade.

I'll be posting detailed shots of some of the artifacts from inside the Council House in later posts.