A Dan Josselyn Memorial Publication

This comprehensive compilation of Moore's archaeological publications on eastern Florida will prove an invaluable primary resource for Florida archaeologists.

Clarence B. Moore (1852-1936), a wealthy Philadelphia socialite, paper company heir, and photographer made the archaeology of the Southeast his passion beginning in the 1870s. This volume collects 17 of Moore's publications on East Florida, originally published between 1892 and 1903. These invaluable and copiously illustrated works document the results of Moore's numerous archaeological expeditions along Florida's eastern coastline from the Georgia border to Lake Okeechobee and focus primarily on sites along the St. Johns River and its tributaries. Moore's archaeological work in East Florida was arguably his best and most thorough research from a modern perspective.

Jeffrey Mitchem's introduction to this volume describes and analyzes Moore's work in East Florida, summarizes what we know about the sites Moore investigated, and surveys subsequent archaeological work conducted in this area since Moore's expeditions. Mitchem's introduction highlights the significance of Moore's work on the shell heaps along the St. Johns River. It led to the earliest recorded instance of a researcher noting the changes in pottery styles in the region, a major key to establishing chronologies.In 1894, Moore wrote of his hope "that the archaeology of Florida may be redeemed from the obscurity that has hitherto characterized it." Over a century later, this Press has aimed to fulfill Moore's wish by reprinting this and other collections of his archaeological publications.

 

Jeffrey M. Mitchem is Associate Archaeologist with the Arkansas Archeological Survey and Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Arkansas.

"C. B. Moore's volumes are indispensable to scholars working on the archaeology of the American South, and they are fascinating reading for anyone interested in ancient Indian cultures. Nowadays these volumes are extremely rare and virtually impossible to find. That's why Alabama's Classics in Southeastern Archaeology series is so important. "

—Vincas Steponaitis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

"Mitchem's introduction . . . is important in its own right."

—American Anthropologist