Press Release
Atlanta’s Fernbank Museum Presents Display on
Spanish History of Ocmulgee River at Telfair County Library
After completing the first season of a summer archaeology program in Telfair County, Atlanta’s Fernbank Museum of Natural History is sharing its findings with local residents—just as archaeologist Dennis Blanton prepares to lead another expedition to the area.
Teams of students, teachers and curious citizens will take part in the exploration again this summer, but everyone can learn more about Telfair County’s history through a special display on view at the Telfair County Library from June 1 through June 30, 2007.
The exhibit, Time Detectives in South Georgia: The Mystery of the Spanish Artifacts, will showcase the earliest history of South Georgia and its role in the Southeastern Spanish mission system. As part of the ongoing research program, the Museum is searching the “Forks” near the head of the Altamaha River for a lost mission settlement, named by 16th century-Spaniards as Santa Isabel de Utinahica, one of the most remote missions in the Southeast. Only a few written records indicate the mission’s location, and Blanton hopes this program will reveal more details about what happened there.
“The soil in South Georgia is full of surprises. Doing scientific archaeology there is really the only way to learn about certain aspects of local history, including the time of Spanish exploration,” Blanton said. “We had great success last summer and anticipate even more significant results this year.”
The first summer’s work produced distinct 16th-century Spanish glass beads, an iron tool, a large quantity of distinctively decorated “square ground” pottery, a large marine shell bead, elaborate smoking pipe fragments, food remains in the form of animal bones and mussel shells, architectural traces like clay daub and mud dauber nests, and more.
While demonstrating the process of archaeology, the exhibit reveals the richness of the region’s past and the story of Spanish interaction with the Native Americans through informational panels, photographs and video. Playing off the notion of archaeologists as “time detectives,” the display shows how artifacts and archaeological studies give a voice to people from long ago. Recognizing artifacts as clues, the Time Detectives prompts visitors to consider the findings much like an investigator would on a TV show like “CSI.”
Fernbank created the Time Detectives display so residents could learn more about the relevance of events that took place in their own backyards hundreds of years ago.
“This is perfect timing for our summer reading program,” said Evelyn Kersey, Branch Manager of the Telfair County Museum. “We try to promote reading through different avenues and hope people will see that our library offers cultural events and learning opportunities beyond checking out books.”
Time Detectives is supported by the Georgia Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities and through appropriations from the Georgia General Assembly. Following the display at the Telfair County Library in McRae in June, the exhibit will travel to the Heritage Museum in Douglas in July, and the Blue & Gray Museum in Fitzgerald in August. Time Detectives is free to host at libraries or other public facilities and is available to other interested venues after the summer. The archaeology program is supported by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and Land Management Associates, Inc.
Blanton will be on hand at each of the venues to present the exhibition, discuss the significance of the field work, and motivate the local community to embrace the area’s past. Blanton will speak and answer questions at the Telfair County Library on Tuesday, June 19 at 1 p.m. The presentation is open to the public and is free of charge.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for people in the area to get first-hand interaction with an archaeologist like Dennis and have him visit our library to update the community with what’s going on at the dig site,” Kersey said.
The Telfair County Library is located at 815 College Street in McRae. For more information on Fernbank Museum’s archaeology program, visit www.fernbankmuseum.org.
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