Before construction can begin on UWF's new Darrell Gooden Stadium, crews needed to know what was in the ground. What they found was older than expected.
Researchers with the UWF Archaeology Institute conducted a required archaeological survey on the Pensacola campus in March and uncovered ceramics linked to at least two pre-Columbian Native American cultures, including artifacts that may be 1,400 years old.
The oldest pieces are associated with the Weeden Island culture of the Woodland period, likely dating between A.D. 600 and 900. Additional ceramics date to the middle-to-late Mississippian period, approximately A.D. 1250 to 1600. The survey relocated a site first documented on campus in 1989.
"The condition of the site is significant due in part to the long history of development of our campus," said Ramie Gougeon, director of the Archaeology Institute. "It is not common to find a site this intact."
Florida law requires archaeological surveys before ground-disturbing work on state-owned land. The division determined a survey was required before stadium infrastructure could proceed. UWF says the findings do not jeopardize the stadium project's current plans. Additional survey work on campus is expected through spring.
For students in UWF's anthropology and archaeology programs, the excavation was classroom and fieldwork at once, on their own campus.