Apalachee Council House Artifacts

These are the last of the Council House photos. In the first image, you can see a closeup of the beds that are all around the edge of the outside wall. The Apalachee natives would sleep there before an attack or before going to war. I didn't count them, but the Council House is 120 ft in diameter, so there were quite a few of these beds.

The mats are basically the same woven mats as you've seen on every table and on the benches and floors throughout the village. I believe they were woven by the women from Palm fronds. These mats were laid on a bed made of logs as were the tables and benches.

These two artifacts were found on the grounds during the excavations by the archaeologists. The bucket looks like the ones that can be found at many antique auctions and in antique stores. They're fairly common.

That clay jug is beautifully done. The craftsmanship is amazing. Those holes are purely for decoration. They don't go all the way through (or the liquid would leak out). I like what looks like salad tongs of today on the sides. I'd love to have one of these.

Tomorrow's post will be the interior of one of the houses of an Apalachee family. Be sure to come back and have a look.

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.