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

2026 GOLDEN TROWEL AWARD


At the April SWFAS meeting in Bonita Springs, SWFAS President John F. Furey awarded Mary Davis O'Keefe Southall the SWFAS 2026 Golden Trowel Award.

Mary has been a 41 year member of SWFAS and joined in 1985, five years after SWFAS was founded. She has participated in many excavations that SWFAS undertook, worked in the SWFAS Craighead Archaeological Laboratory at the Collier County Museum at Government Center, and was an early and highly valued volunteer. Mary has served on the SWFAS Board of Directors for many years and is a student of history and well versed in our local Southwest Florida archaeology. Her years of boating, outdoor activities, and travels have given her an intimate knowledge and love of our Florida environment and history.

Congratulations Mary!

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BIG EVENT THIS MONTH

The Warm Mineral Springs/Little Salt Spring Archaeological Society (WMSLSSAS) of Sarasota and Charlotte Counties invites you to the 78th Annual Meeting of the Florida Anthropological Society (FAS) in Punta Gorda, Florida, May 8-10, 2026, at the Charlotte Harbor Event and Conference Center on the Peace River.
DETAILS AND REGISTRATION AT https://fasweb.org/annual-meeting-26/

2026 SWFAS NEWSLETTERS

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MARCH


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FEBRUARY


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JANUARY


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The Volume 78, Number 2, June 2025, pp97-122, issue of The Florida Anthropologist has an article by John Beriault and Bob Carr about the Bonita Bay Complex in southern Lee County. This is a 30-site complex that SWFAS was an active participant in identifying, recording, sampling, and excavation of many of these sites, and the Craighead Lab processed much of the excavated material. SWFAS also published the results of several of these sites. These early days of SWFAS was a very busy time for salvage archaeology, and the article describes the historical involvement of SWFAS during its early days.

ONLY FAS MEMBERS CAN READ THE NEWEST VOLUMES, LIKE THIS ONE, ONLINE IN COLOR!
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Join the Florida Anthropological Society and you will be able to read the quarterly produced peer review journal, The Florida Anthropologist.
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