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…
John F. Furey was nominated by The Southwest Florida Archaeological Society (SWFAS) for the Lazarus Award. The award honors achievements by an individual who does not make a living doing archaeology. John meets criteria of the Lazarus Award by his scholarship, stewardship of archaeological data, public education, and bringing together people interested in Florida’s cultural…
The Southwest Florida Archaeological Society (SWFAS) nominated Betty Anholt as our 2024 nominee for a Florida Anthropological Society (FAS) Certificate of Achievement Award. Betty has been a life member of SWFAS and a long-time member of FAS. She has served as our SWFAS Secretary for several years, attended a number of the FAS Annual Meetings,…
Charles “Charlie” Strader is the recipient of the 2020 William C. Lazarus Award. He was nominated by the Southwest Florida Archaeological Society (SWFAS), of which Charlie is a long-time member. He earned an undergraduate degree in Applied Anthropology in 1977 from University of South Florida, in Tampa. His involvement in South Florida archaeology started in…
2014 – Theresa Schober
Date: March 18, 2020 Time: 7:00pm Location: IMAG, Ft. Myers, FL Early Cistercians, a Catholic order of monks and nuns was founded in A.D. 1098 to follow the strict Rule of Saint Benedict. Practitioners are typically believed to have lived obedient, simple lives toiling in agricultural fields and eating only coarse bread, vegetables and herbs. However,…
Presenter: Theresa Schober Date: February 19, 2020 Time: 7:00pm Location: IMAG, Ft. Myers, FL SUBJECT: In 1521, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon attempted to settle Florida at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River. While the settlement failed, some of the expedition’s cattle remained. By the 1600s, 20,000 head of cattle supported early Spanish settlements and…
Presenter: Dr. Margo J. Schwadron SUBJECT: The Ten Thousand Islands contain some of the largest, most complex shell midden mound constructions in the world. Over 12 years ago, Dr. Schwadron began some of the first investigation of many of these monumental sites, and over many years, through National Geographic grants, dissertation work, and National Park Service…
Presenter: Austin Bell, Curator, Marco Island Historical Museum SUBJECT: In December 2018, Marco Island welcomed “home” some of Florida’s most well-known archaeological artifacts for a special exhibition at the Marco Island Historical Museum. Excavated in 1896 from Key Marco – an archaeological site less than three miles from the museum – the artifacts are some…
The William C. Lazarus Memorial Award was developed by the FAS Board of Directors in 1985. It is named for the late William C. Lazarus (1911-1965) who made significant contributions to Florida archaeology, site preservation and education. Lazarus was an active FAS member in the late 1950’s to mid 1960’s, serving in the Northwest Florida…