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NEW BOOK HELPS KIDS TO DIG ARCHAEOLOGY

By Lisbeth Kent

TRY your hand at Excavating a Florida Midden!

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GAINESVILLE—As the 7th annual Florida Archeology Month gets underway in March, University Press of Florida announces publication of a new book about the Timucua Indians that introduces young readers to their early native cousins.

The Timucua Indians -- A Native American Detective Story, an illustrated and interactive book geared to readers from ages 7 to 12, explores the history and culture of 16th-century Florida. It includes 47 "detective directives" that invite kids to follow clues and conduct their own archaeological and investigative activities -- explore a trash midden, speak some of the Timucua language, plant a feast, or figure out how the Timucua hunted 25-foot alligators.

When the mysteries are solved, the reader becomes a certified Historical Detective.

Written by Kelley G. Weitzel, senior preserve naturalist at the E. Dale Joyner Nature Preserve at Pelotes Island in Jacksonville, the $9.95 paperback book is the first in UPF’s Young Readers Library publishing program.

Weitzel, who teaches workshops and seminars about Florida’s environment and its Native Americans, said recently the book allows young readers to "bring a little of the strength and wisdom of the ancient Timucua culture back to their present-day lives" and to enjoy the experience year around.

Jerald T. Milanich, curator of archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, commented that Weitzel has done her homework. "The book offers readers a hands-on introduction to the first Floridians and the methods that archaeologists and historians use to study them," he said.

 

Later this spring UPF will release three new titles in its series of Southeastern Classics in Archaeology, Anthropology, and History -- 

Exploration of the Etowah Site in Georgia, 
 by Warren King Moorehead (2000)

The Seminole Indians of Florida,
 by Clay MacCauley (2000)

Exploration of Ancient Key-Dweller Remains on the Gulf Coast of Florida
 by Frank H. Cushing (2000)

The series is devoted to reprinting and reproducing 19th- and 20th- century sources still important today to scholars of Native Americans and the colonial period of the southeastern United states. Each volume includes a foreword explaining why the work has become a classic and its relevance to modern research.

All books are available toll-free from the press at 1-800-226-3822, or from local bookstores.