Before Spanish explorers arrived 500 years ago, Florida was home to a variety of sophisticated and colorful native societies, including diverse groups such as the Calusa, Apalachee, Timucua, and Tequesta. In this film, artist Theodore Morris follows his quest to recreate on canvas the lives and spirits of these vanished people. Archaeological evidence from the land and from below the clear waters combines with facial reconstructions and early historical accounts to paint a fascinating picture of people in tune with the subtropical environment.
Morris canoes rivers, hikes barrier islands, and interviews archaeologists as he prepares to create a new painting of the first people to inhabit the Florida peninsula. He visits a prehistoric slaughter site on the Aucilla River and the mounds at Lake Jackson near Tallahassee, then visits with Glen Doran, a physical anthropologist who is studying skeletal remains to discover the physical characteristics of these early North Americans. (from The Archaeology Channel and Kentucky Educational Television)
Produced by Chaos Productions for Florida Anthropological Society and the Florida Department of State Division of Historical Resources.