Southwest Florida Archaeological SocietySWFAS was founded in 1980 to provide a meeting place for people interested in the southwest Florida area's archaeology, history and cultural past.

APRIL 16, 2025, 7:00 PM EST, at NAPLES, Collier County Museum at Government Center

Sacred Geography: The Prehistoric Use of Parabolic Dunes in South Florida
Bob Carr, Executive Director, The Archaeological and Historical Conservancy, Inc.

During Bob Carr’s extensive work in south Florida, he directed the documentation of two prehistoric sites associated located on large parabolic (U-shaped or crescent-shaped) dunes. One site is at the Jupiter Lighthouse and the second is in Bonita Springs on the Gulf Coast. Cultural deposits at these sites date back to the Late Archaic Period, 7500 – 500 BCE. Why were these locations so important to prehistoric indigenous peoples? Could these sites have inspired the extensive earthworks of the Belle Glade culture (1000 BCE – 1700 CE)? These questions and more will be addressed in his presentation.

Robert (Bob) Carr co-founded the Archaeological and Historical Conservancy in 1985 and has served as its full time director since 1999. He has a Master’s Degree in Anthropology from Florida State University. He has worked as an archaeologist with the State of Florida’s Division of Historic Sites, National Park Service and Dade County. He was Miami-Dade County’s first County Archaeologist and became the County Historic Preservation Director. He is the former editor of the Florida Anthropologist and former president of the Florida Archaeological Council. He is a recipient of the Bullen Award and Florida’s Historic Preservation Award.