Friday, April 18 | 6:30pm | Little Theater
No Registration Required
Join us for the AIA (Archaeological Institute of America) Lecture on Fort Mose Above and Below: Excavations and Climate Change at an African Fort in Spanish Florida. Presented by Dr. Mary Elizabeth “Liz” Ibarrola, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, TX
First constructed in 1738, Fort Mose was the earliest legally sanctioned Afro-Diasporic settlement in the modern United States. Self-liberated Africans escaping from the British colonies to Florida were ultimately recognized as free Spanish subjects if they accepted Catholicism and participated in the defense of St. Augustine. Fort Mose, manned by these freedom seekers, was established as the northernmost defensive line for the city, a critical bulwark against the British and a position of great vulnerability. In the 1980s, archaeologists identified the fort’s location and extensive historical and archaeological research revealed much about lifeways at Mose. In 2019, Prof. Ibarrola and her colleagues reopened archaeological investigations at the site. This talk will share the history of the fort, but also reflect on the last five years of work at the site, including the current research team’s effort to utilize both terrestrial and underwater methods in the face of rapidly rising sea levels and continual coastal erosion.
