by The city of St. Augustine with its centuries-old buildings and a massive stone continues to the Spain’s layered story in Florida, which goes back to generations before the United States even existed. But Great Britain has been controlled by the region for two decades in the 17th decades, and archaeologists have finally found some of their long -asked footprints.
City Archäologists identified a dry water ditch last autumn of a British redoub, a fortified military outpost that was built in 1781. Last month excavations were completed in the city district of the city, which made space for the construction of a new family home.
“St. Augustine had a 20-year-old British period,” said the archaeologist of the city of Andrea White. “They came and built seven of this redoubt, and nobody has ever found archaeologically. We have rough ideas about where they were and until recently they appear on historical cards.
The Spanish military built the Castillo de San Marcos at the end of the 17th century, and the fort remains on the west bank of Matanzas Bay in Florida, but more as a national monument than a military installation.
When the British took control of Florida in 1763, St. Augustine already had extensive Spanish defense, but British officers were concerned about an attack from a nearby river and ordered the construction of the outpost along the western edge of the city.
White said, Great Britain’s relatively short crew of St. Augustine, which ended together with the American Revolution in 1783, was largely forgotten by the time, and the discovery of the fort is a way to regain a small piece of lost history.
“This is what is interesting about these British redoubs, they are the only defense that the British built themselves,” said White. “Everything else that is in St. Augustine or in the area with which everyone is familiar have already been built by the Spaniards. And then the British only occupied them again.”
The structure was discovered thanks to a unique archaeological conservation regulation, which was taken over by St. Augustine in 1986, said White. The city, founded in 1565, is the oldest uninterrupted part of the United States, which is previously a European settlement. In order to document and preserve this story, St. Augustine has its own archeology program, which is part of the city’s planning and approval department.
“We have the chance to come in and document what is available before construction,” said White. “We never stop the construction, this is not the goal. It’s just about giving us a little time, documenting what could be, learning a little more about our history, and then the project can go forward.”
White knew that the area had a long history in development and returned to a mission by the American indigenous people in the early 1700, followed by an agricultural plantation and after the civil war the construction of the district of Lincolnville.
“So we knew that we had several centuries of history that could possibly be on the property, but we are quite excited to actually find evidence,” said White. “What we found to prove was a large moat of a width of about 15 feet that would have been part of the wall.”
The researchers found only a few artifacts at the location and are still not sure whether the actual size and shape of the fort was restored thousands of different types of seeds. White said they work with a paleoethnobotanist who examines the history of the interaction of humans and plants to learn how the structure was built and used. It is possible that plants such as Spanish bayonet or cactus cactus were used spiky pears to prevent erosion or to slow down attacking soldiers.
“So we are very confident that we will find some good information from our system that we have recovered,” said White.
Jason Heidgerken, the contractor who works on the property on which the water ditch was found, said that the city’s archaeological program could certainly cause delays, but White and her team were great and communicated so that he can adjust his timelines.
“I have been personally near St. Augustine since 1980, and part of the attraction is the story,” said Heidgerken. “So if you want to live there and do this kind of business, it is to be expected and you have to be patient for it.”
In the past four decades, the city’s archeology program has completed more than 1,200 projects. Researchers have not only collected data from Spanish colonial times, but also settlements from the American indigenous people and villages that go back 4,000 years.
“I actually think it’s pretty cool what the city is doing. I’m a story myself,” said Heidgerken. “I think it’s pretty good.”
