Ms. Jennifer A Melcher

Following the fortuitous 2015 discovery of a substantial assemblage of mid-16th-century Spanish ceramics in a residential neighborhood overlooking the Emanuel Point shipwrecks in Pensacola Bay, the University of West Florida Archaeology Institute worked with more than 120 landowners to conduct extensive archaeological testing across a broad area in order to bound and explore the site. This paper compares documentary and archaeological evidence to confirm the identification of the roughly 10-hectare site as Tristán de Luna’s 1559-1561 settlement, making it the largest mid-16th-century Spanish colonial site in the Southeast, and the earliest multi-year European settlement in the entire United States.

In 2011, University of West Florida terrestrial field school students participated in a third consecutive year of excavations at Mission San Joseph de Escambe, located north of modern Pensacola between 1741 and 1761. Inhabited by Apalachee Indians and a small number of Franciscan friars and married Spanish soldiers, as well as a Spanish cavalry garrison late in the mission's history, the site's pristine archaeological deposits are gradually revealing details about mission life along this northernmost frontier of 18th-century West Florida. Ongoing block excavations have continued to expose a complex assemblage of architectural features separated by both vertical and horizontal stratigraphy, including several overlapping wall-trench structures capped with what seems to be a clay floor, and a large structure believed to be the cavalry barracks. Artifacts ranging from a predominantly Apalachee ceramic assemblage to an assortment of European trade goods continue to refine our understanding of this important site.

In 2009, documentary evidence and archaeological testing led to the discovery of the archaeological site of Mission San Joseph de Escambe (c1741-1761) along the Escambia River north of Pensacola. Home to Apalachee Indians and resident Spanish friars and soldiers, the mission’s excavated material culture clearly reflects the multi-ethnic nature of this late mission community, and is comparable to contemporaneous assemblages from Presidios Isla de Santa Rosa (1722-1756) and San Miguel (1756-1763). Of particular note is the aboriginal ceramic assemblage, which displays characteristics reflecting the origins of the resident Apalachee as refugees formerly living in Creek Indian territory before 1718. Archaeological excavations conducted by the University of West Florida during the 2009 and 2010 summer field schools have also produced evidence for several undisturbed wall trench structures, including what may be Spanish cavalry barracks constructed in 1760, as well as multiple overlapping structures under a prepared clay cap.