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Backyard Breakthrough

Greg Fight / Tampa Tribune

Archaeologist Robert Austin shows some of the pottery shards, bones and shells unearthed in Parque Narvaez subdivision near Boca Ciega Bay.

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By STEVE KORNACKI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 23, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - When this portion of northeast St. Petersburg was to be developed into a subdivision 50 years ago, an archaeologist excavated the area first, looking for artifacts from much earlier residents.

Remains from an American Indian burial mound were discovered in 1955 and '56 by William Sears, and displayed in the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville. Then the subdivision was built over the area, and archaeologists pretty much ignored the prospects for more than four decades.

'Everybody knew about it but no additional work was done,' said Bob Austin, who is directing the current project to unearth more history. 'The impression was that there was nothing left to find after the housing went in.'

Now Austin and four other volunteers are looking for more. As members of the Central Gulf Coast Archaeological Society, they spend Saturdays digging for the past. They have turned up pottery, shell vessels, fish bones and turtle shells left by American Indians several hundred years ago.

The little pieces of history will be analyzed, some radio carbon-dated, and many will eventually be displayed at Weedon Island Preserve's Cultural and Natural History Center in St. Petersburg.

Austin works for Southeastern Archaeological Research, but says, 'This dig is my hobby, my chance to get out in the field.'

On Saturday, they worked the front yard of a house near Boca Ciega Bay in the Parque Narvaez subdivision, which was named for the Spanish conquistador who discovered Tampa Bay in 1528.

Dave Burns of Tampa sifted a pottery shard from a bucket of dirt and handed it to Austin.

'This is check-stamped pottery and it really tells us something,' Austin said, speaking of a shard with rows of imprints on it. 'It first appeared about 700 A.D. So, we know this pit had to be dug after 700 A.D.'

He said charcoal discovered in the subdivision was radio carbon-dated at 1,000 to 1,200 A.D., and has been the oldest material found. They won't know for sure how old the pottery and other items found Saturday are until they can be carbon-dated.

A state grant for $12,460 was used to pay for the drilling of a 12-foot deep core sample from the yard, analysis of its contents and carbon-dating.

Austin said most residents don't mind his hobby. 'We left fliers on the doors of every house in the neighborhood last summer, asking for permission to dig, and 80 percent said, 'Sure.''

They dug small holes in the front and back of each yard, looking for shell and other telltale signs that something interesting could be underneath. Five yards were targeted for in-depth digs, and one remains to be worked.

The current site is 3 feet deep, 6 feet wide and 6 feet long. Austin and Bart McLeod of New Port Richey, a University of South Florida student, filled buckets with dirt dug with a trowel.

The dirt was placed in a sifter with quarter-inch screen, and Burns sprayed it down with a hose. Larger items were inspected in the sifter, while smaller fragments were taken to sifters with eighth-inch screens resting on sawhorses.

'Look, here's a drum tooth from a prehistoric fish,' said Cindy Martin of Brandon, an archaeology technician.

Rachel Nostrom of Safety Harbor, who is pursuing a master's degree in public archaeology at USF, joined Martin in sifting before placing items in plastic bags.

'We're finding lots of fish bones,' Nostrom said. 'Now, a lot of times excavations are taking place in people's back yards and not remote regions.'

The digs have stirred curiosities in the neighborhood.

'Some of the neighborhood kids have helped us and had a blast,' said Martin. 'Bob or one of us fills them in on what we're doing, and a couple of boys found some shells and broken pottery.

'They went into their own yard and started digging.'

Austin laughed, adding, 'I lent them a sifting screen and I don't know if their parents were real happy. But, they let them do it. They ended up finding some historic glass in their yard.'

Reporter Steve Kornacki can be reached at (813) 731-8170 or skornacki@tampatrib.com.

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