The Southern and Central Alabama Expeditions of Clarence Bloomfield Moore

The Northwestern Florida Coast Revisited [EXCERPT]

The Northwestern Florida Coast Revisited [EXCERPT] BY CLARENCE B. MOORE [515] The Northwestern Florida Coast Revisited By Clarence B. Moore Introduction The end ofour work along Green river, Kentucky, in 1916, virtually completed for us the list of all rivers navigable by our steamer, and at the same time not likely to be affected by ice in winter (in summer cultivation bars effective search), to be found in southeastern United States. In addition, all the coast of the same region, navigable to us, had been carefully investigated by our expeditions extending over a period of about twenty-seven seasons.1 One river, the Choctawhatchee, in Alabama and northwestern Florida, opened to navigation since our latest visit to the region drained by it, by the removal of a bar at its mouth and by the uprooting of a multitude of snags from its bed, remained uninvestigated, and this stream we determined to search, and, in addition, for the second2 time carefully to cover the northwestern Florida coast, impelled thereto by reasons which we shall proceed to explain. It may be well to say here, to any not familiar with the archaeology of Florida, that it was an aboriginal custom there often practiced, to "kill" a vessel to be interred with the dead, by breaking a hole in its base, thus freeing its souP to accompany that ofits owner to the life beyond. 1. Two additional seasons of exploration detailed in this report bring the total to twenty-nine. 2. As to our first visit (1901 and 1902) consult "Certain Aboriginal Remains of the Northwest Florida Coast, Part I and II." Joum. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., vols. XI and XII. 3. We are indebted to Col. G. E. Laidlaw for the following references as to the Eskimo, which are interesting for comparison. Geological Survey, Ottawa, Canada, Memoir 91, Number 14, Anthropological Series. "The Labrador Eskimo," by E. W. Hawkes. "The small specimen [a stone kettle], which came from an old grave, has two holes bored in the bottom. All lamps and kettles placed on graves were treated in like manner, to liberate the inua ofthe utensil and allow its use by the shade ofthe owner, in the other world." Page 90. "On top of the grave are laid the effects of the deceased, ... All the effects of the deceased are broken to liberate the spirit residing there, so that it may be useful to the shade of the owner. The clothes are tom; the dishes split; and holes bored in the soapstone lamps and kettles." Page 120. "The Eskimo believe that not only all animals but also any prominent physiographical feature, such as a rock, point, cove, or mountain, is inhabited by a spiritual counterpart, the inua, the genius or thinking spirit of the object or spot. This is the third person possessive form of inuk, man, and means literally 'its man,' which perhaps expresses the idea as well as it can be explained." Page 127. Doubtless some of the more thrifty among the aborigines regretted this [516] expenditure ofserviceable pottery and hence arose a refinement ofthe custom, widespread in Florida and metwith by us at one place even in western Louisiana,4 namely, the manufacture of mortuary vessels otherwise useless, of inferior ware as a rule and having a basal perforation made previous to the firing ofthe clay. Probably through this class a further evolution is found (along part5 ofthe northwestern Florida coast and its hinterland, including some mounds on the Apalachicola,6 Chattahoochee and Flint rivers), namely, the "openwork" vessel, having ready-made excisions in the body ofthe vessel, which often formed parts ofthe decoration. Vessels ofthis class, first discovered by the expeditions ofthe Academy of Natural Sciences and described in the Journal ofthe Academy, are to be seen, at the present writing (1917), in no other institution, we believe. The desire to obtain other examples of this class of ware and the added hope to discover more of another class, namely, those superb bowls forming a part of the urn-burials found mostly to the westward7 ofthe locale ofthe openwork ware, were the motives suggesting to us a second visit to the northwestern Florida coast. In this purpose we were encouraged by the knowledge that the population there had greatly increased in number since the period of our first visit, and that the consequent spread of cultivation in places hitherto unreclaimed, must have brought to the attention...