Life on the Remote Frontier

Overview

When they weren’t converting Indians, rebuilding after storms or burying plague victims, St. Augustine’s residents were busy carrying out their duties to the Spanish crown. Its soldiers escorted missionaries and its sailors traveled frequently aboard ships sailing between St. Augustine and Havana. The town’s garrison was responsible for rescuing shipwrecked Spanish sailors and recovering the treasure and cannons aboard the ships run aground by storms or pirates. The viceroy was responsible for sending the annual "subsidy" or payment to the St. Augustine garrison.

Although St. Augustine was small, remote and poor, life in the town was governed by traditional Spanish municipal organization, with a mayor and city officials in addition to the military and crown-appointed government officials. With a reputation as a savage wilderness, recruitment for the garrison sometimes took place in Spanish prisons.

The daily, weekly and monthly practices of the Catholic Church were also profoundly influential in shaping the routines of St. Augustine’s residents. And the constant quest for adequate food, clothing and shelter were concerns held in common by all of the town’s citizens. But despite these shared community elements, the daily lives and experiences of individual people in St. Augustine varied dramatically.

Within the town’s small resident population, sharp social distinctions were recognized and maintained. These distinctions took into account place of birth, race, occupation and income. Spaniards with some connection (however remote) to nobility were at the top of the social hierarchy, and were able to use this to advance themselves both socially and economically. Most of the residents were Spaniards of humble background, connected to the garrison. Many of these soldiers were able to improve their economic circumstances by practicing other trades and professions in addition to their military duties.

By the end of the sixteenth century a significant portion of St. Augustine’s inhabitants were criollos (people of Spanish descent but born in America), Indians, Africans or of multiracial parentage. A peninsular (a Spaniard born in Spain) was generally held to be more socially prestigious than a criollo (a person of Spanish descent born in America), and people of color were generally relegated to the lower social ranks.

A great many Spanish soldiers married Indian women, which, by 1565, was already a long-established practice throughout the earlier Spanish colonies in Mexico and the Caribbean. This tradition deeply influenced the nature of everyday life in St. Augustine throughout the Spanish period. Artifacts related to women’s domestic activities reflect a strong Native American influence in household and kitchen management, whereas artifacts related to men’s traditional activities are nearly exclusively European.

The 1565 marriage in St. Augustine between Luisa de Abrego, a free black domestic servant from Seville, and Miguel Rodríguez, a white Segovian conquistador, was the first known and recorded Christian marriage anywhere in what is now the continental United States.[26]

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/staugustine/unit2.htm

References

• "The Archaeology of Sixteenth Century St. Augustine," by Kathleen Deagan in The Florida Anthropologist 38, nos. 1-2 (1985) and Deagan, "The Town Plan of Sixteenthe Century St. Augustine" (1981) (saved in files)

• "The Historical Archaeology of Sixteenth-Century La Florida" by Kathleen Deagan in The Florida Historical Society Quarterly, Vol 91, pt 3 (saved in files).

Research:

• Cemetery excavations by Olga Caballero and Martha Zierden in "Excavations at SA-28-1 (Spanish hospital site), St. Augustine".

Vignettes

Teresa Camacho - Indian woman married to a Spanish soldier

Francisco Camacho came to Florida in the 1560's from San L�car de Barrameda, near C�diz. He was a soldier in the regiment, and also a fisherman. He married an Indian woman named Teresa, and in 1580 the couple’s household in St. Augustine included Francisco, Teresa, Teresa‘s sister Catalina, and Catalina’s son, Juan. Fewer than half of the Spanish men in St. Augustine were married, and fewer than half of those had a Spanish wife.

Juan Cevadilla: Situador and wealthy citizen

Juan Cevadilla married into one of the elite governing Spanish families of St. Augustine, and was given the lucrative post of situador. The situador was responsible for going to Mexico City each year, collecting the money of the crown subsidy for St. Augustine, and buying goods from the money for shipment to St. Augustine, There were clearly many opportunities for personal gain in this process, and Cevadilla’s will reflects this. He died suddenly in Veracruz in 1590 while collecting the subsidy, leaving to his widow, Do�a Petronilla, such elaborate household furnishings as a carved and gilded canopy bed of embroidered Chinese taffeta, great quantities of luxury cloth and clothing, several African slaves, horses and other livestock, several sets of glazed earthenware and Chinese porcelain, silverware, perfume and books.

Francisca de Vera: Widow, boardinghouse owner and laundress

Se�ora de Vera’s soldier husband died in St. Augustine sometime before 1580. She supported herself by opening her home as a boardinghouse, renting space to five soldiers. Three of the soldiers also worked on the side as carpenters, and one worked as a barber. Men vastly out-numbered women and they generally continued to live in the comrade groups mandated by Pedro Men�ndez at the first settlement, in order to pool rations and share household needs. Most soldiers also practiced trades or crafts on the side to supplement their meager salaries, usually through barter.

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/staugustine/index.asp?unit=2

The Spanish did not import many slaves to Florida for labor,[39] since it was primarily a military outpost without a plantation economy like that of the British colonies. Wikipedia

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Illustration: Pedro Menendez de Avil - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Pedro_Men%C3%A9ndez_de_Avil%C3%A9s.jpg

Missions

Main articles: Spanish missions in Florida and Spanish missions in Georgia In 1549, Father Luis de Cáncer and three other Dominicans attempted the first solely missionary expedition in la Florida. Following decades of native contact with Spanish laymen who had ignored a 1537 Papal Bull which condemned slavery in no uncertain terms, the religious order's effort was abandoned after only 6 weeks with de Cancer's brutal martyrdom by Tocobaga natives. His death sent shock waves through the Dominican missionary community in New Spain for many years.

In 1566, the Spanish established the colony of Santa Elena on what is now Parris Island, South Carolina.[25]:95 Juan Pardo led two expeditions (1566-1567 and 1567-1568) from Santa Elena as far as eastern Tennessee, establishing six temporary forts in interior. The Spanish abandoned Santa Elena and the surrounding area in 1587.[30]

In 1586, English sea captain Francis Drake plundered and burned St. Augustine, including a fortification that was under construction, while returning from raiding Santo Domingo and Cartagena in the Caribbean.[31]:429[32] His raids exposed Spain's inability to properly defend her settlements.[32]

The Jesuits had begun establishing missions to the Native Americans in Florida in 1567, but withdrew in 1572 after hostile encounters with the natives.[31]:311 In 1573 Franciscans assumed responsibility for missions to the Native Americans, eventually operating dozens of missions to the Guale, Timucua and Apalachee tribes.[33] The missions were not without conflict, and the Guale first rebelled on October 4, 1597, in what is now coastal Georgia.[34]:954

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_St._Augustine,_Florida

Catholicism was a central and all-pervasive aspect of life in Spanish St. Augustine. Rules of social conduct for all Christians - European, American Indian or African - were largely set forth and enforced by the Church, and social activities were scheduled and organized by the annual round of religious feasts and observations. Religious brotherhoods devoted to specific saints and rituals were active in St. Augustine from the earliest days of the colony onward. Although Jesuit missionaries began efforts to convert the Florida Indians to Catholicism shortly after the arrival of Menéndez, they were not successful, and they left the Florida mission field in 1571 . The first Franciscans arrived in St. Augustine in 1573, and by 1587 had established the Mission of Nombre de Dios at a Timucuan town on the outskirts of St. Augustine. Their success was largely owing to Doña María Meléndez, the ruling chief of the town of Nombre de Dios. Other missions to the north, extending to what is today north Georgia, soon followed. The Franciscans also built a monastery (convento) a short distance south of St. Augustine in 1588. The convento and its chapel were destroyed in the fire of 1599, and remained in ruins until 1603. Secular priests ministered to the spiritual needs of the Spanish colonists at the parish churches of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios (1572-1597) and Nuestra Señora de la Soledad (1597-1763).

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/staugustine/index.asp?unit=2

Vignettes

Doña María Meléndez, Timucua Chief

Doña María was the ruler of the town of Nombre de Dios during the 1580's and 1590's (the Timucua often had women rulers). She was a Christian, and her mother (who had been the ruling Chief before her) was one of the very early Timucua converts to Christianity. Doña Maria married a Spanish soldier named Clemente de Vernal, and he lived with her at Nombre de Dios. Doña María saved the residents of St. Augustine from starvation in 1587 by supplying them with a large quantity of corn, when the town was flooded with hundreds of refugees- not only from the abandonment of Santa Elena, but also the survivors of five Spanish shipwrecks that occurred off Florida in that year. Like all Timucua chiefs, she was part of a hereditary elite class respected by the Spaniards as nobles. Her son became the chief of another Timucua Indian mission town, San Juan del Puerto, in the 17th century.

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/staugustine/index.asp?unit=2

Alonso de Escobedo: Franciscan friar and poet

Father Alonso de Escobedo sailed from Spain to Florida in 1586, but was captured by English pirates upon reaching Hispaniola. He and his companions were stripped of their goods and abandoned by the pirates. He finally made his way to Havana, where he joined with a contingent of several other Franciscan Friars and came to Florida. Fray Alonso was assigned to the mission village of Nombre de Dios, near St. Augustine where he is thought to have baptized more than a hundred Indians. During his time there he began (and possibly finished) a long epic poem called La Florida, describing his experiences in America. This was the first European poem written in North America. Despite the success of conversion efforts at Nombre de Dios, Fray Escobedo had left Florida by 1600, and returned to Spain, where his poem eventually came to reside in the Biblioteca Nacional.

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/staugustine/index.asp?unit=2

Cristóbal de Coleantes, Soldier, penitent brother and entrepreneur

Cristóbal de Coleantes was a soldier, and he served in both Santa Elena and St. Augustine. He formed a merchandising company with another soldier, Antón Martín, to wholesale and retail game, fish, lard and honey to taverns and households of St. Augustine. Coleantes was a member of the Brotherhood of the Holy Cross, a penitent order. He died in St. Augustine, and left in his will a robe and flagellant whip.

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/staugustine/index.asp?unit=2

Material Culture

Foods grown in the 17th century: figs, grapes, oranges, peaches, pomegranates, mulberries, squash, radishes, kidney beans, onions, garlic, lettuce, peppers, cabbage, sweet potatoes.

Use of Spanish majolica pottery replaced by the 17th century by Mexican majolica.

Jewelry as amulets - white quarts or glass beads to promote milk production, red agate and carnelian to prevent hemorrhage.

Daily Life in Spanish St. Augustine 1565-1763 - school project

"In discussing his excavations at Santa Elena, [Dr. Stan South] stated that artifacts from 104 artifact classes were found at Santa Elena, while only 71 artifact classes were represented in St. Augustine excavations. He attributed this to the fact that Santa Elena was the center for the power elite while it was the Florida capital in the late 1560s and until 1576" (Lyon, 1992, p. 4). [Reclaiming America's Lost Century]

First Fort

Beads and hawksbells were among the items brought by Menéndez as gifts for the Florida Indians. These were all excavated at the Menéndez camp and fort sites of 1565-66. (Beads: Faceted Chevrons (tri-colored): 8SJ31 FS#'s 53, 1001, 2174; 8SJ34-435; Cornaline D'Aleppo (red outside, green inside) 8SJ31 FS# 1316, 1362, 1995; Tumbled blue beads: 8SJ31 FS #'s 1001, 1475, 1575, White with blue stripes, 8SJ34 -724. Length of long red bead: 1.1 cm. Remaining 14 trade beads, A19925).

Pottery vessels, foodstuff, shell beads, amber and animal pelts were among the items used by the Indians as exchange and gifts for the Spaniards. (St. Johns plain pot # A93964; St. Johns plain pot # A2692/103411; Amber 8SJ28, #A3362).

The first thanksgiving feast in the U.S. was on September 8, 1565. The meal probably included corn, fish, oysters, venison, garbanzo beans, hardtack biscuit, olives and wine, prepared and eaten using Spanish - and perhaps Indian- utensils. (St. Johns plain pot #103509).

Early Settlement

Higa - Small clenched fist amulets called higas (or figas) have been used in Spain and the Mediterranean region from Roman times to the present day to protect people form a variety of evils. They are thought to be especially powerful in warding off the evil eye for babies, who are naturally weak. This higa, from the Menéndez campsite, was carved of bone and painted black to look like jet (also thought to have magical properties). It might even have belonged to Martinico, Martín and Leonór de Arguelles' son born in the first settlement. (8SJ31-Feature 73. Length 2.2 cm.).

Olive Jar - Wine and olive oil were perhaps even more important to the Spaniards than wheat and beef. Quantities of both were shipped to St. Augustine in these vessels known as "Spanish Olive Jars", which were the primary shipping containers throughout the Spanish Americas. The earliest ones were round with handles, and after about 1580 they became elongated, with ring-shaped rims. (Early style jar example, Santo Domingo. Early style red jar handle 8SJ31-231. Middle style jar example, # 9713; Middle style ring neck SA42A-888. Length of middle style jar 21cm.; diameter of ring neck 10 cm.).

Porcelain - A few fragments of Ming porcelain, still very rare in the Americas of 1565, attest to the status of some of the hidalgos (high-status gentlemen) on the expedition. (8SJ34 FS 822 ).

Spanish pottery - The members of the 1565 expedition came equipped with Spanish pottery for the table, but soon turned to Indian pottery for cooking. (Columbia Plain "gunmetal" majolica escudilla, SA36-4; Yayal Blue on White majolica bowl SA34-2; Isabella Polychrome rim fragment, Seville blue on blue plate fragments SA26-1-128; Columbia plain rim. Diameter of the Columbia Plain "gunmetal" escudilla is 11cm.).

Spanish barrel well - Spanish well at the Menéndez campsite. It was constructed of Spanish oak barrels, probably in 1565. (8SJ31, Fountain of Youth Park. Photo: James Quine).

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/staugustine/index.asp?unit=1

Tristan de Luna 1559-61 settlement

How large would Tristán de Luna’s 1559-1561 settlement have been? - discusses the expected arrangement of Spanish settlements in La Florida

Documentary evidence detailing the configuration of the intended settlement is limited, but includes an initial plan for the pueblo to be constructed at Ochuse and sent by the viceroy to the Spanish crown a few weeks before the fleet departed. This plan was described as showing 140 house lots, the central 40 of which were to be reserved for a plaza, church, warehouse, and other public structures. Some 100 lots were to be laid out for 100 families to remain at the port settlement, and the four gates of the town were to be visible from the plaza on all sides. While this layout was obviously idealized and speculative at the time, since neither the viceroy nor Luna had laid eyes on Pensacola Bay to choose a suitable location, in other similar drawings sent back from the New World during the late 16th century (see example below), house lots (solares) were normally grouped in blocks of four, arranged within a rectangular grid of streets, with a public plaza being located in the center of the town layout. In addition, later royal ordinances dating to 1573 also normalized the practice that the principal plaza for port settlements should be at the port’s landing, and should be rectangular, measuring no less than 200 by 300 Spanish feet (about 56 by 84 meters), but no more than 800 feet in length (222 meters). All these details suggest that the original layout for Luna’s first settlement would have consisted of a 5 by 7 rectangular configuration of four-lot blocks, with a central area adjacent to the landing area containing a plaza bordered by all major public buildings.

The exact size of each house lot intended for the Luna settlement is unknown, but a contemporaneous town plan drawn in 1561 for the new city of Mendoza in modern-day Argentina was comprised of a 5 by 5 grid of four-lot blocks, with each square lot said to measure 225 Spanish feet on a side (about 63 meters), amounting to more than 3,900 square meters in area (AGI Buenos Aires 221). For this town, each block of four lots measuring 550 feet (125 meters) on a side was divided by roads measuring 35 feet wide (about 10 meters). The original 5 by 5 block plan would therefore have amounted to 2,890 Spanish feet on a side, or about 666 meters. These figures are quite comparable with the central part of the present-day city of Mendoza, which has blocks measuring about 125 meters between street centerlines, as shown on Google Maps.

In contrast to this earlier example, however, the 1573 ordinances formally defined individual house lots as being 50 by 100 Spanish feet (just under 14 by 28 meters) for peonías, and 100 by 200 feet (28 by 56 meters) for caballerías, sizes distributed to footsoldiers and cavalry, respectively. These lots would equate to areas comprising about 388 and 1,552 square meters, or if square, roughly 20 and 40 meters on a side, respectively.

Size of Santa Elena - 1569

In October 1569, the capital of La Florida had a fort, 40 houses, and 327 inhabitants. By 1580 Santa Elena [re-built after 1577] had 60 houses (Lyon, 1982, pp. 4 &13). [Reclaiming America's Lost Century]

1571 Developments

By mid-July, 1571, Pedro Menendez had arrived at his capital, Santa Elena, with Velasco, Menendez' wife Dona Maria de Solis, their servants, and many luxurious household goods. These included embossed leather wall hangings, whole beds with scarlet fringed canopies and lace and carmine taffeta coverlets. He brought fine bed linen and table linens; carpets, a red satin bed, seven saddles and their tack. In a large barrel came a complete pewter table service for 36, candlesticks, a silver ewer, kitchenware, and a keg of flaxseed and hempseed. The Adelantado also brought a supply of the usual staples plus lentils, salt, garbanzos and rice to make up the typical Spanish cocido stew, and 90,000 nails in three sizes for construction. [From Santa Elena: A Brief History]

The all-pervading Church of Rome was continually felt in Santa Elena. The town's life was built around the feasts and proccessions of its calendar, and the daily calls to Mass and prayers punctuated its days. The local church itself must have been quite a plain structure, but it contained rich furnishings: a painted retable portraying a crucified Christ and other figures, a gilded cross, the gilt image of Santa Clara, an embossed leather canopy and frontal, fine linen altar cloths, altar ware, and costly vestments. Even though the Sacraments were often administered by regulars or, for long months, were not administered at all, there was a confraternity of laymen in Santa Elena who helped tend the church, comfort the sick, and bury the dead. [From Santa Elena: A Brief History]

Economics

Although the subsidy became the financial motor of Santa Elena, there was considerable other economic activity. Pedro Menendez had planned sugar, silk, wine and naval stores industries in Florida. Much of this would not be realized; some would await coming centuries, but some products did arise. Sarsaparilla root, gathered like cochineal with Indian labor, was shipped out to Spain by Captain Pardo, Pedro Menendez, and others. Oak and cedar were also shipped. Indian trade, supposed to be official, often became rescate done by private persons or for ~ficials not reporting it, even though they used royal goods in the trade. [From Santa Elena: A Brief History]

The real beginning of the fur trade with the southeastern Indians was at Santa Elena. When the English later traded for furs from their Virginia or Carolina settlements, they were but following the sixteenth-century rescate carried out by the Spaniards [From Santa Elena: A Brief History]

There were moneylenders in Santa Elena, and some of its citizens invested modest sums in trading ventures in Havana or Vera Cruz. Small partnerships were formed to hunt for game or to fish. Carpenter Martln de Lezcano made wheels and carriages for the fort artillery, but also fashioned beds, tables, and writing desks. Chief smith Anton Martln forged locks, keys, and knives. Women of the town took in boarders from among the bachelor soldiers or settlers; thus Barolome Martin, whose house adjoined the Olmos', took his meals there until his marriage. The Olmos house was a busy one indeed: father and son were tailors and did work on cotton escupiles (padded cotton armor) for the soldiery. Olmos also raiseed hogs, planted corn, loaned money, sold drygoods, and operated a tavern.

By far the largest financial activity in Santa Elena was the illegal trade conducted for the Adelantado, Don Diego de Velasco, and Pedro Menendez the Younger through surrogates. Juan de Soto had acted for Pedro Menendez; beginning as an ordinary soldier, he became a wealthy merchant. Diego Ruiz, also representing the Adelantado, brought swords, clothing and majolica to sell at Santa Elena. Menendez also sent ordinary earthenware, axes, mill equipment and slop jars. Velasco and Menendez the Younger greatly enlarged the trade. They became partners in using royal money from the subsidy to invest in goods to sell the Florida soldiers, against their pay.

The ruling families continued to live in some style. When the lady-in-waiting of the Adelantado's wife was married in Santa Elena to Captain Juan de Junco, her dowry included a trousseau of fine suits, skirts and dresses of white English wool, yellow satin, and taffeta trimmed with velvet.

29. Dona Maria de Pomar's clothing and bedding is described in AGI EC 154-A, fol. 616vo-619.

Rebuilding after 1576

In October 1569, the capital of La Florida had a fort, 40 houses, and 327 inhabitants. By 1580 Santa Elena [re-built after 1577] had 60 houses (Lyon, 1982, pp. 4 &13). [Reclaiming America's Lost Century]

When Pedro Menendez Marquez reported to the King on March 2, 1580, he could describe how far the rebuilding of the town of Santa Elena had progressed; now there were 60 houses, many with flat roofs of lime. Captain Quiros described his surroundings as "salt-water marsh," but noted that the island yielded crops, and referred again to the fertility of the inland areas. These remained, of course, out of reach as long as Indian hostility continued. Late in 1580, another uprising occurred, and many Indians surrounded the fort.

Gutierre de Miranda returned to Santa Elena to command and to build his own estate. The Crown authorized Pedro Menendez Marquez to grant him town lots and sizeable country lands, allowing Miranda to bring two slaves duty-free. On November 10, 1580, in the colorful ceremony he took the keys of Fort San Marcos from Quiros and began a vigorous leadership. Miranda also planted gardens and built, at some distance from the fort, his hog and cattle ranch. In 1582, using royal slaves, he reconstructed the central fort stronghouse. Earlier that year, severe disease again struck Santa Elena; at one point, only eight men had been well enough to guard the ramparts.

End of Santa Elena

...On August 16, 1587, Governor Menendez Marquez appeared at Santa Elena with an order by Maestre de Campa Tejeda to tear down Fort San Marcos and evacuate the town. Tejeda had been strongly influenced by the governor and others, and Pedro Menendez Marquez was obeying orders which reflected his own views. The entire garrison was to be concentrated in a stronger fort at St. Augustine. This severe blow aroused those who possessed homes, lands and other vested interests in Santa Elena. Gutierre de Miranda strongly protested, testifying of the rebuilt strength of the fort. He stated his belief that the King and Tejeda had not been informed of the true strategic value of Santa Elena's fine port as compared to St. Augustine's shallow bar. He feared that the enemy would seize control of Santa Elena and profit by its cleared lands, wood suitable for shipbuilding, fruit trees and livestock. He pointed out that the Adelantado Pedro Menendez, who had understood its importance, had made his capital there, and reiterated the old belief that the most abundant cultivation could only come in temperate latitudes. Miranda closed with an appeal that nothing further be done until the King and council could hear the matter.

Pedro Menendez Marquez replied that the King was amply informed of the qualities of the land, and that no Indians had, up to now, been truly Christianized. He denied that Santa Elena was fit for settlement, and labelled st. Augustine superior to it. He stated that Tejeda had full powers to make his determination, and he ordered Miranda not to stand in the way, under a penalty of 500 ducats and being declared an open rebel.

Gutierre de Miranda had to yield. The fort was torn down, and the city burned yet again. Miranda carried his protest to Spain, where he presented a claim for destroyed houses, gardens, hog ranches, livestock and other farm and cultivated property. One of his witnesses swore that Miranda's properties yielded an annual income of 4,000 to 5,000 ducats. Thirty-three Santa Elena farmers also sued for the loss of their homes and gardens.

66. Miranda's claim was made at Havana February 27, 1588, from AGI SD 231; those of the farmers were ordered paid by the King in a cedula dated at Madrid February 21, 1590, from AGI SD 2528.

Class Differences in Archeology

Dramatic differences have been found to exist between various structure areas. Structure #2, for instance, has more Ming porcelain than any other ruin, apparently reflecting a higher status level for the owner than some of the other structures. Also reflecting status is a quantity of copper wire, wound with a kind of braid, called bordado, which was sewn onto the clothing of the upper class individuals. Also probably reflecting status is an almost completely restored majolica bowl. This type is known as Santo Domingo Blue on White (Goggin 1968), and has a drawing of a bird known as a pardalot. [Spanish Artifacts from Santa Elena]

The ratio of Spanish pottery to Indian pottery in the Santa Elena features associated with Structures 3, 4 and 5 reveal that Structure 5 had far more Spanish refuse associated with it than did Structures 3 and 4, which were characterized by a higher Indian than Spanish pottery ratio. This is also reflected in the analysis of the pottery from the Spanish occupation zone overlying the features and architectural remains, providing insights into the relationship beween Spanish features and the overlying soil zones, a discovery of major methodological interest The Spanish-Indian pottery comparisons also provide functional data relative to the presence of Indian women in Spanish households in Santa Elena (South 1982). [Spanish Artifacts from Santa Elena]

Microfaunal analysis by Paul Gardner (South 1980, 1982) and Margaret Scarry (South 1983, 1984) has revealed the use by Spaniards of gourds, chili peppers, watermelons, canteloupe, wheat, and corn at Santa Elena. [Spanish Artifacts from Santa Elena]

Structures

The nails found in each pile of fired clay daub suggest that perhaps horizontal wooden boards or slats were nailed against the side of the upright posts, with the spaces between woven with upright wattling. The presence of impressions of cornsta1ks in some of the fired clay daub indicates one type of wattling being used at Santa Elena (Fig. 26). The differential rusting of nails from burning while embedded in the post suggests that the horizontal slats or boards were 1 5/8 inches thick. The roof was likely fonned by roof poles placed on the topmost slat or stringer of the wallplate, with a smokehole left in the center to allow smoke from the central hearth fires to escape through the roof, a standard Southeastern Indian practice (South 1973: 145-171). Horizontal supports were likely used to fasten the roof poles into a fmn framework to support a palmetto thatched roof surface (Salley, ed. 1959: 41). Such a structure using Spanish nails and spikes and perhaps a European type door, was still very much the architecture of the Southeastern Indians known from the period of the sixteenth century (Lorant 1946: 33-116). It appears, therefore, that the Spanish at Santa Elena were adapting to the local construction techniques for building their houses in their capital city in the New World (South 1980: 13). Rectangular structure data were also found at Santa Elena (South 1982:33) and an interpretive drawing of this type building is seen in Figure 5, based on the excavation seen in Figure 4, and on studies by Manucy (1979: 46a, 1985:50-51). Structures 3, 4 and 5 appear to have been arranged around a courtyard (Fig. 5). The clay walls of the buildings have impressions of the grass and Spanish moss used to help bond the clay onto the wattling and also show impressions of cornstalks used to support the clay (Fig. 26). Some of the daub fragments are so large that the smoothly hand trowelled surface of the clay wall on both sides of the wall can be seen. The following measurements of these wall fragments, revealing the thickness of the walls, were taken from Structure 4 (Fig. 5), (38BUI62C-336):

mm

26.8

40.0

47.8

55.5

45.5

31.5

46.5

=

336.9 divided by 8 = 1.58" average wall thickness

These measurements reveal a wall varying from one inch to 2 1/4 inches in thickness, with an average thickness of 1 5/8 inches. [Spanish Artifacts from Santa Elena]

The long rectangular houses have antecedents in Spanish domestic architecture and are seen today in Hispanic folk architecture, as well as in Mexico (Manucy 1979: 8a). "The remarkable similarity of present-day Mayan huts to sixteenth-century representations of Florida Indian structures makes these traditional constructions in the Yucatan peninsula of unique interest" (Manucy 1979: 44). The post-and-thatch construction is similar to the floor plans we have found at Santa Elena. The hearth on the floor, the sabal palmetto thatch, the use of wattles, and the vertical post walling are shared attributes. Manucy has provided sketches for the rectangular, thatched-roof structures in Spain as well as Mexico, and an adaptation of the Santa Elena data to these parallel forms is seen in the sketch in Figure 5. The flat-roofed structures known to have formed half of the houses in Santa Elena in 1580 (which were coated with oystershelllime mortar) would have looked very similar, but without the gabled thatched roof, also like Mexican parallels (South 1982: 40). [Spanish Artifacts from Santa Elena]

The average wall thickness is close to that for the frred clay daub wall thickness. One fragment was 16.7mm, or 5/8" thick, much thinner than most. Fragments of lime mortar walls and a lime lump are illustrated in Figure 26. The use of lime mortar made from burning oystershells was begun by 1580 (Connor 1930: 283), resulting in yet another kind of mortar, oystershell mortar. After that time it was no longer necessary to ship barrels of lime to Santa Elena to be burnt to make mortar. This means that the presence of lime mortar in a ruin or feature at Santa Elena or Fort San Felipe probably indicates construction took place between 1577 and around 1580. [Spanish Artifacts from Santa Elena]

There were more than 60 houses reported to have been in the second town of Santa Elena in 1580 (Connor 1930: 238; Hoffman 1978: 40). This information comes from a letter from Pedro Menendez Marques to the king of Spain, written from Santa Elena, March 25, 1580, in which he says:

This village is being very well built, and because of the method which is being followed, any of the houses appears fortified to Indians, for they are all constructed of wood and mud, covered with lime inside and out, and with their flat roofs of lime. And as we have begun to make lime from oyster-shells, we are building the houses in such a manner that the Indians have lost their mettle. There are more than sixty houses here, whereof thirty are of the sort I am telling your Majesty (Connor 1930: 283).

This reveals that half of the sixty houses in the second, rebuilt Santa Elena had flat roofs covered with lime mortar made from oystershells. The wording, "And as we have begun to make lime from oyster-shells," sounds as though making oystershell mortar was only recently begun. Oystershell mortar, therefore, in a feature or ruin would suggest construction after around 1580. [Spanish Artifacts from Santa Elena]

Of the six structures found at Santa Elena thus far, five are rectangular and one is "D" shaped, or generally round, in the traditional shape of the Southeastern Indians. The four structures found in the area excavated in 1981 are far more regular and impressive than the hut discovered in the 1979 season. These rectangular structures are much larger than the 12 foot wide hut and probably are more typical of the houses in Santa Elena than the hut was, it being thought to be the residence of a servant, slave, or single soldier. The 42 foot long Structure #5 is an impressive building, apparently designed to hold more individuals than Structures #3 or #4 (Fig. 5). These buildings were constructed by placing posts in holes dug to accommodate upright wall posts that, in turn, supported lintels. In some instances, horizontal beams or slats may have been fastened to the upright posts, through which vertical cornstalks or canes were interwoven. This framework then held the daub (processed with grass or Spanish moss, water and sand, in processing pits dug in the yard around the house), which was shaped into a wall (South 1982: 39). During the second Santa Elena period, after 1577, lime mortar was used against wooden supports, made from limestone imported from Havana. After 1580, however, oystershell mortar was used as a coating over flat-roofs and daub walls of buildings, probably designed using a construction model familiar to Spaniards from use in the Southwest. From what we know of the fired clay daub, lime lumps, lime mortar and oysters hell mortar from the documents we are able to temporally separate features and structures in some instances and assign them to the first or the second Santa Elena. [Spanish Artifacts from Santa Elena]

Disasters and Rebuilding

Daub Wall Pieces - These fragments of clay daub walls survived because the building were burned, firing the clay and preserving the impression of the wood wattling. (SA-34-1).

Matchlock musket lock - Matchlock muskets were the most common weapon in the defense of St. Augustine during the sixteenth century. This lock from a matchlock may have been made in St. Augustine at the end of the century. (SA34-1-16; length of plate 13.7cm.).

Nails and hardware - Hand-wrought iron nails and spikes are some of the rare physical traces of St. Augustine's sixteenth century buildings that have survived in the ground. (All SA34-1, length of spike on top is 12 cm.)

Powder box lid - Soldiers carried their gunpowder in special containers with lids and spouts that measured out a charge at a time. This iron lid shows the spout hole and lever for measuring charges. (SA34-1-16; 5 cm. by 3.2 cm.). The matchlock musketeer to the left, ca. 1608, shows a matchlock musket and powder box similar to those used in St. Augustine. (from Jaques de Gheyn, Maniement des Armes, d'Arquesbuses, Mousquetz et Piques. Amsterdam, 1608. Courtesy of the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument Library).

Burned timbers - These burned cedar posts were preserved in a well filled with late sixteenth century debris. They were possibly part of the clean up effort after Francis Drake's burning of St. Augustine in 1586. (SA36-4-403, length of longest piece 50.6 cm.).

Tools - Hand-wrought metal tools used in construction and rebuilding were imported during the early years of the settlement, when blacksmiths were few. (Hammer head, splitter, small planer, ax head, cotter pin, slide bold, lockplate, door key. All St. Augustine - HSAPB-TC collection. Length of ax head 21 cm.).

A wattle and daub house - A reconstructed wattle and daub house, of the kind probably in St. Augustine about 1580. It was reconstructed on the basis of archaeological remains. (Courtesy, St. Augustine Foundation, Inc. Flagler College).

Settlers' house in sixteenth century St. Augustine. - Wood board house. (Drawing by Albert C. Manucy, courtesy of the St. Augustine Historical Society and the University Press of Florida (Manucy 1999:45,85).

The forts of St. Augustine

• A sixteenth century fort of St. Augustine, depicted in a Spanish map. - Although this triangular fort was depicted in the ca. 1590 Meestas map , it probably typifies the forms of the second (1566) and third (1566) forts on Anastasia Island.

• The fourth fort of St. Augustine showing the form of the fourth (1571) and fifth (1579) forts (Report of Alvaro Flores 1579) (Map courtesy of the P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History).

• The sixth fort, San Juan de Pinillo, drawn by Baptiste Boazio and destroyed by Drake in 1586. (Map courtesy of the P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History).
• The seventh fort, San Marcos (1587-1596). (Map courtesy of the P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History).

St. Augustine, 1586 - This map, made in 1586, is the earliest known representation of St. Augustine. It was drawn by Baptiste Boazio, an artist who accompanied Francis Drake’s raiding and privateering expedition of 1586, fortunately before Drake destroyed the town. (Courtesy: P. K. Yonge Library of Florida History, University of Florida).

St. Augustine, ca. 1590 - This map of St. Augustine as it was rebuilt after Drake’s raid shows wooden buildings and a triangular wood fort. The fort stood between the Spanish town and the Indian village of Nombre de Dios. (Courtesy: P. K. Yonge Library of Florida History, University of Florida).

One of the most interesting discoveries was the method of construction of the wattle-and-daub buildings used in Santa Elena. As postholes were dug for the upright posts for a building, on which wattling of cornstalks and canes was fastened, clay-daub processing pits were dug in the yard around the structure. Clay, water, moss and grass were mixed in these pits using the feet until a suitable mixture of daub was obtained for plastering onto the wattled walls of the structure. When the building was completed these processing pits were fIlled with refuse thrown from the newly occupied structure. The pits thus became filled with oystershells, clams, conch, pig bones, fish bones, hearth ashes, eggshells and broken dishes from Spanish majolica, olive jar fragments, Italian majolica, Mexican earthenware, Chinese Ming porcelain, copper aglets or lacing tips for fastening clothing, thimbles, dice, straight pins, a crucifix, and silver coins stamped with the arms of Spain, and other things. [Spanish Artifacts from Santa Elena]

Churches & Missions

Rosary elements - Rosaries were used universally by people in St. Augustine as a guide to Catholic prayer, and sometimes (particularly by women) as ornament. Jet and wood were the most common beads, although very ornate examples of gilded and inlaid glass, or of crystal were used by well-to do colonists. ( Black glass with white inlaid enamel SA34-3-414; Faceted black jet SA40A-260; Fluted white glass 8SJ31-2197; Fluted red glass 8SJ-2488, Carved bone bead SA30-3-456; Round back glass beads 8-SJ31-2055. Length of fluted white glass bead .7 cm.).

Excavation of a Catholic shroud burial in St. Augustine's sixteenth century cemetery of Los Remedios - Burial rituals were among the most common functions of the clergy in St. Augustine. Sixteenth century corpses were wrapped in cloth shrouds and buried without coffins. These shroud pins came from the burial of a Spanish man in the cemetery of Los Remedios. (SA24-326, 454, 455, 118 ; Length of longest pin 4.2 cm. Excavation of the Los Remedios cemetery (SA-28-1).

Copper alloy handbell fragment - Handbells were important church items, used during the Mass and also to call the faithful to church. They were also used in the households of well-to-do colonists to summon servants. (SA-24-269, Length: 8.5 cm.)

Flagellant stars - Religious confraternities devoted to penance through self-flagellation were common in Spain and in St. Augustine of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, particularly among the hidalgo classes. Whips with small metal tips like this were used by penitents to scourge themselves during "Processions of the Blood." ( 8SJ34-435; SA26-1; diameter of larger star1.4 cm.).

Nombre de Dios trade items - Beads and a gold clasp fragment recovered from the site of the Nombre de Dios mission many may have been used in rosaries by converts like Doña María Meléndez, or were perhaps gifts given to the leaders of the mission village. The silver crucifix and the blue and black beads were found at other Timucua mission sites, and may have been similar to examples used in the late sixteenth century St. Augustine missions. (Gold clasp, 8SJ34-895; White stone for setting in a ring or other jewelry 8SJ34-613; Red Cornaline D'Aleppo bead 8SJ34-1052; Silver Crucifix 8CO1; Blue and black beads 8DU53; String of typical beads from mission sites, FLMNH # P2893. Height of crucifix 2.5 cm.)

Church reconstruction - A reconstruction of St. Augustine's parish church, Los Remedios, ca. 1580. (Courtesy of the St. Augustine Foundation, Flagler College).

Detail of Nombre de Dios, ca. 1590 - The mission village of Nombre de Dios, as shown in a ca. 1590 map. It was located approximately where the Shrine of Nuestra Señora de la Leche in St. Augustine is today. (Courtesy of the P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History, University of Florida).

Penitents - Two members of penitent societies in sixteenth century Spain. Penitent societies practiced self-flagellation as a means of spiritual purification. They were popular in Spain during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, particularly among the nobility. Many members of penitent societies came to America, including St. Augustine. (Christopher Weiditz, Der Trachtenbuch, ca. 1536).

Later Settlement - Life on a Remote Frontier

Chamberpot - The Spaniards in St. Augustine did not dig latrines or privies or outhouses, but instead met their sanitary needs with chamber pots, or bacines. This redware example shows the typical shape of a sixteenth century Spanish bacín. (SA26-1-422, height 32 cm.).

Chocolate frother - Chocolate (cacao) was another New World product that was eagerly adopted by the Spaniards, who mixed it with sugar to make a sweet drink. They also adopted the Mexican chocolatero, which was used to whisk and froth the chocolate. This example was found in a well in St. Augustine. (HSAPB-HTC. Length of the chocolatero 27 cm.).

Metate, manos, St. Johns sherds - By the end of the sixteenth century, most of the cooking in St. Augustine kitchens was done in Indian pots, using corn ground on a metate (grinding stone) with a mano (hand grinder). Manos and metates were traditional Mexican Indian implements, and were imported to St. Augustine from Mexico. The most common pottery vessels were made of the Timucuan St. Johns ceramic ware, acquired locally. The forms remained traditional, with few alterations to suit Spanish tastes, probably because most of the cooks were Indians or mestizas (women of mixed Spanish-Indian ancestry). (Reproduction metate, shown with mano fragments, 7-4-170; SA7-5-1; Metate fragment, SA30-3-323; St. Johns check stamped pot, #76639. Length of longer metate fragment 8 cm.).

Lace tips - During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, buttons were normally used only by military men and wealthy colonists. Everybody else fastened their simple clothing with laces tipped by metal ends known as "aglets." Although in other parts of the Spanish world aglets were sometimes richly embellished as ornaments, those from St. Augustine are simple, copper tubes. (SA-26-1).

Reales and maravedi - Money was scarce in St. Augustine and rarely lost. There were more coins in the town during the sixteenth century, however, than there would be later, as the Spanish crown found it increasingly difficult to support the St. Augustine garrison after 1600. These silver 2-reales were minted in Mexico City between 1566 and 1598, during the reign of Phillip II of Spain. The copper four-maravedí piece was minted in Santo Domingo between 1542 and 1587, and was the small change of the sixteenth century, worth a few cents today. These are among the earliest coins excavated in St. Augustine. (Reales: 8SJ34-767, 1072. Maravedí: SA26-1-424. Diameter of marivedí 2.5 cm.)

Clothing ornaments and lace - Well-to do residents of St. Augustine flaunted their station by wearing clothing of expensive fabric, often embellished with metallic lace, buttons, beads and ornamental mounts like these. (Molded white glass with enamel inlay and loop eye, SA34-1-342, Red and gold glass clothing ornament, SA26-1-21; Gold metallic thread trim, SA7-4-594; Black glass heart ornament SA7-4-498; Ornamental lacing tip SA30-3-279; Button of metallic thread SA26-1-74. Length of ornamental lace tip 2.7 cm.).

Lion's head and Mexican pot - This unglazed, redware lion's head, inlaid with chips of feldspar, came from an elaborately-molded pot. An identical vessel (shown at bottom) was found in Mexico City, and such luxury elements did make their way to St. Augustine, perhaps with officials such as Juan de Cevadilla, the collector of the situado in Mexico. (Redware lion's head : SA26-1-13, height 4.5 cm. Redware jar with appliqués, feldspar inlay and lion heads from sixteenth century Mexico City. (courtesy of Patricia Fournier García, Arqueología Mexicana, VOL. IV-NUM.31, 1998).

Tablewares - Although St. Augustine was on the periphery of the Spanish empire, some of its Spanish residents still managed to acquire a sample of the international array of goods that circulated through the Spanish-American economy of the late sixteenth century. Items from Spain, Mexico, China, Italy and Germany have all been found in well-to do St. Augustine sites of the period. (Chinese porcelain SA26-1-118; Mesoamerican redware face adorno for a pot SA33-1-29; Feldspar inlaid plate from Spain or Portugal SA26-1-6; German Cologne stoneware SA26-1-74; Italian Pisan slipware (swirled) SA34-1-306,421; Orange Micaceous cup SA26-1-207/214; Ichtucknee Blue on White Spanish majolica SA26-1-160; Mexican Fig Springs polychrome majolica SA26-1-47. Diameter of redware face 6.9 cm.)

Strike-o-lite - In the absence of matches (and the presence of perpetual dampness) colonists struck flint against metal to produce sparks for household fires. At least one enterprising settler re-used an ancient Archaic stemmed projectile point as her strike-o-lite. (Chert point re-used as a strike-o-lite stone, SA26-1-105; Chert chunk probably used as strike-o-lite, SA34-1-455. The metal strike-o-lite is a reproduction. Height of strike-o-lite/point: 3.1 cm.).

Jet St. Catherine - St. Catherine of Alexandria was the patron saint of wheelwrights, and was also a patron saint of students. This small jet devotional venera of St. Catherine and her wheel from late sixteenth century St. Augustine may have belonged to either. (SA24-454, Height: 2.7cm.)

Moor grinding chocolate - Grinding corn was one of the most tedious daily tasks of the St. Augustine colonists in the sixteenth century, since there was no grist mill in the town. Corn was prepared in the Mexican Indian manner, by grinding on a basalt metate (grindstone) with a stone mano (pestle), imported from Mexico. In this image the mano and metate are used to grind chocolate, a luxury item in St. Augustine. (Anonymous painting, "A Moor grinding chocolate" ca. 1700; North Carolina Museum of Art)

Drawing of household - A typical settler's house and lot of the late sixteenth century in St. Augustine, showing domestic activities and organization revealed through excavation. (Drawing by James Quine).

Painting of St. Augustine 1580 - Painting by Noel Sickles depicting St. Augustine as it may have looked in 1580. (Courtesy of St. Augustine Foundation, Flagler College).

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/staugustine/index.asp?unit=2

Archaeology at Santa Elena

Archaeological and archival research into the Spanish colonial city of Santa Elena (1566-1587) has been on-going since 1979 under the direction of archaeologist Stanley South, who was joined by Chester B. DePratter in 1991. Located on Parris Island, South Carolina, Santa Elena, the capital of Spanish La Florida, represents the earliest European occupation of South Carolina and one of the earliest European settlements of North America north of Mexico. St. Augustine, Florida, a military outpost, was begun a year earlier than Santa Elena.

The initial excavations at Santa Elena involved sampling to locate the town and to determine the distribution of structural remains within it. This sampling resulted in identification of the town and a number of buildings, as well as the unanticipated discovery of a portion of a fort identified as Fort Fort San Felipe (II). Subsequent field seasons have been directed toward excavation of most of this fort and its blockhouse, and five houses in the town. Test excavations have also been conducted in the site's other known fort, Fort San Marcos (II). Wells, daub processing pits, and dozens of other features associated with the Spanish occupation have also been excavated.

Beginning in 1991, the Columbian Quincentennial Commission of South Carolina and its Chairman, Dr. Chester B. DePratter, assumed an active role in the Santa Elena Project. The Commission chose Santa Elena to be its major educational and research effort in conjunction with the 500th anniversary of Columbus' arrival in the New World. During the three years of commission sponsorship, large block areas were excavated in the town of Santa Elena. These excavations were opened to the public and guides were employed to lead visitors on site tours. A total of more than 5,000 visitors toured the site from 1991 to 1993.

In 1993, during a search for a Spanish fort, a Spanish colonial pottery kiln was revealed on the edge of Santa Elena. This is the oldest European type pottery kiln yet discovered in North America north of Mexico. Over four dozen micaceous redware vessels were found inside the kiln, which had collapsed during firing. This kiln, thought to date from 1577 to 1587, offers a valuable opportunity to study the type of vessels in use at Santa Elena at that time. A number of the vessels are unlike any known from the Spanish colonial literature, some being in the Moorish Islamic tradition. Among the interesting forms were fragments of an alembic, revealing that Spaniards at Santa Elena were distilling spirits. This is the oldest evidence of a scientific instrument yet known in North America.

Through a grant from the Department of Defense Legacy Fund, DePratter and South conducted two field seasons at Santa Elena in 1994. In each of these two seasons, large block excavations in the area of the kiln were opened, producing wasters (ceramics broken during the firing process), evidence of a potter's shed, and features relating to kiln activities.

During the spring of 1994, a large-scale shovel testing project was implemented in the areas covered by the 7th, 8th, and 9th holes of the Marine Corps Golf Course which overlays the remains of Santa Elena. A total of 1383 shovel tests were excavated on a 30-foot interval grid covering approximately 35 acres. Materials recovered from these tests allowed identification of the town limits for Santa Elena (covering about 18 to 20 acres), the distribution of pre-sixteenth century Native American occupations, the location of plantation period structures including a probable slave row, and the scatter of Marine Corps materials from a first World War training camp.

Fall of 1996 excavations consisted of a large block unit on the back half of the high status lot excavated in 1991 to 1993. The 1996 block was excavated with the expectation that a kitchen structure would be found, but despite the presence of abundant post holes and food remains, no kitchen could be delineated.

Excavations in Spring 1997 focused on French Charlesfort and the remains of Spanish Fort San Felipe (I) which rest on top of it. Excavations were conducted in the moat of Fort San Felipe and in the area of its southwest bastion. Portions of the Charlesfort moat and storehouse were also exposed, and French ceramics of the period were found during the excavations.

In Fall, 1997, excavations were conducted adjacent to the pottery kiln in a further effort to find the waster pile and evidence for additional structures relating to the operation of the kiln. Neither the waster pile nor relevant structural evidence was recovered, however.

The last two Santa Elena forts were the subject of excavations in Spring, 1998. The first Fort San Marcos (occupied 1577 to c. 1583) is believed to have been located beneath the present 7th fairway on the golf course. While play was temporarily diverted to a nearby practice green, we were able to excavate two large block units in the fairway. Neither of these large blocks revealed clear remains of the fort, but analysis of the artifacts and features exposed is continuing.

Excavations were also conducted in Fort San Marcos (I) which was tested by South in 1979 but which had not been the scene of subsequent excavations. The major goal of the 1998 excavations was to determine the extent of damage resulting from Marine Corps excavations in the 1920s and the erection of a large, granite Charlesfort monument in 1925. We also wanted to determine whether there were remains of earlier Spanish forts [specifically San Salvador and San Felipe (II)] beneath the remains of Fort San Marcos (II). Excavations revealed extensive trenching and earth-moving by the Marines, but significant portions of the fort interior remain intact. Charred timbers and artifacts are evidence that the fort burned at least once, but at present we cannot say whether this relates to San Felipe (I), burned by Native Americans in 1576, or San Marcos (II) which was burned intentionally by the Spaniards when they abandoned the settlement in 1587.

Analysis of collections recovered in the past three field seasons is on-going at our laboratory facilities in Columbia.

For further information on recent research projects see Pastwatch and Legacy articles.