Florida's First People: 12,000 Years of Human History

by Robin C. Brown

This comprehensive look at the first humans in Florida combines contemporary archaeology, the writings of early European explorers, and experiments to present a vivid history of the state's original inhabitants. Includes a photographic atlas of projectile points and pottery types as well as typical plant and animal remains uncovered at Florida archaeological sites.

The author replicated many primitive technologies during the writing of this book. He fashioned a prehistoric tool kit from stone, wood, bone, and shell, then used the implements to carve wood, twist palm fiber into twine and rope, make and decorate pottery, and weave fabric. The book shows detailed photos of these processes.

16-page color insert, 360 b&w photos, 159 line drawings

Genres: Archaeology, History

262 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1994

Reviews

[Iset]

Definitely what I would describe as a smooth and accessible read, a bit less intensive than the heavily technical non-fiction I’ve been reading recently. The book is divided into three broad sections. The first section examines one site from each era in Florida’s history; but these are quite short and more overviews than anything else. So, if you’re looking for detailed site reports and analyses, this is not the book for you. The second section, which I have to say I enjoyed the most, brings together what is known about how the historic peoples of Florida lived daily life, plus contains experimental archaeology sections where the author tried the techniques out for themselves. The third section explains the methodology of archaeology and is more of a ‘if you’re interested in becoming an archaeologist, particularly in Florida…’ helpful guide more than anything else. Definitely a useful book for beginners or newcomers to Floridian archaeology, but perhaps not what experts may be looking for.

[Tom Harr]

I checked this book out from the Sarasota library system and it was excellent. Although a little dated with regards to technology and techniques, the majority of information is relevant and informative. I really enjoyed this book due to its clear logic and organization and its thorough recreations and experiments. I learned so much about the relationship between the original inhabitants of Florida and the natural world. The photos and illustrations were great, although it did annoy me that the "color plates" were also black and white.

[Bill Cox]

Florida history in-written

As the director of operations for EKS and an amateur archaeologist, I was very fortunate to have been at the Windover site for the second and third year of that excavation. As time went by the complexity of the site became greater and greater so that by the end of the third year, we were into the greatest concentration of material but had to stop due to lack of further funding and we had only covered 35% o f the site!!! Maybe someone will finish and the whole story will be told😃

[Josh Liller]

A good overview of pre-contact Native Americans in Florida. Lots of illustrations and photos of artifacts. This is a rather unique work because the author shares his experience trying to replicate many of the artifacts, adding a practical aspect to the book.