HPCC Lesson Plan Series
“Florida’s First People:
A Visit to the Indian
Temple Mound Museum”
Lesson Plan: Upper Elementary Grades 3-5
Using the ITMM and Fort Walton Temple Mound
as a Learning Environment
© 2008 Heritage Park & Cultural Center www.fwb.org/museum
WHAT WILL MY CLASS LEARN AT THE MUSEUM?
The Indian Temple Mound Museum (ITMM) showcases some of the finest prehistoric Native
American bone, shell, stone, and ceramic artifacts in the Southeastern United States left behind
by Florida’s First People. Through a presentation and accompanying tour of the gallery as well
as the actual Temple Mound itself, a National Historic Landmark, this program is designed to
introduce students, grades 3 to 5, to Florida’s First People, who migrated and settled in Florida
some 14,000 years ago and flourished until the arrival of the Europeans in the 16th century
changed their way of life forever. An emphasis will be placed on how they lived in preColumbian time, with a concentration on the Mississippian Culture that once lived in this region.
COURSE OF STUDY
This lesson plan and accompanying tour will meet the following Language and Arts and
Social Studies Sunshine State Standards for students:
Grades 3-5
LA.A.1.2.4 Clarifies understanding by rereading, self correction, summarizing, checking other
sources, and class or group discussion.
LA.B.2.2.6 Creates expository responses in which ideas and details follow an organizational
pattern and are relevant to the purpose.
LA.C.1.2.3 Carries on an extended conversation with a group of friends.
SS.A.1.2.2 Uses a variety of methods and sources to understand history (such as interpreting
diaries, letters, newspapers; and reading maps and graphs) and knows the difference between
primary and secondary sources. (Artifacts, historic explorers accounts, art).
SS.A.1.2.3 Understands broad categories of time in years, decades, and centuries. (cultural time
periods of Native Americans, Paleo, Archaic, Woodland, Mississippian, and historic).
SS.A.2.2.1 Knows the significant scientific and technological achievements of various societies
(development of atlatl, bow drill, bow and arrow).
SS.A.2.2.3 Understands various aspects of family life, structures, and roles in different cultures
and in many eras. (E.g., pastoral and agrarian families of early civilizations, families of ancient
times, and medieval families).
SS.A.3.2.4 Understands the post-Renaissance consequences of exploration that occurred during
the Age of Discovery. (E.g., European colonization in North America and British imperial efforts
in India and other countries). (For example, impact on Native Americans: introduction of foreign
flora and fauna to the New World, disease, technology a.k.a. Columbian Exchange).
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SS.A.4.2.1 Understands the geographic, economic, political, and cultural factors that
characterized early exploration of the Americas. (Impact on Native Americans).
SS.A.6.2.5 Knows how various cultures contributed to the unique social, cultural, economic, and
political features of Florida. (Native Americans living in local area).
SS.A.2.2.6 Understands the cultural, social, and political features of Native American tribes in
Florida’s history. (Role of chief and burial urn).
SS.B.2.2.2 Understands how the physical environment supports and constrains human activities.
(Native Americans food and clothing).
SS.A.2.2.3 Understands how human activity affects the physical environment. (Mound building).
TOUR OBJECTIVES
1. Students will be able to understand how North America, and specifically Florida, came to
be first peopled and how these Native Americans lived prior to the arrival of the
Europeans in the 16th century.
2. Students will gain a broad understanding and appreciation for the cultural and key
technological developments of Florida’s prehistoric Native Americans.
3. Students will understand how Florida’s First People adapted to and shaped their
surrounding environment, as well as utilized its local resources to create a sustainable
society.
MATERIALS PROVIDED:
• Teacher Notes: Overview of Florida’s First People
• Extensions: Learning about a Culture from Artifacts (Part 1: Pre-Visit and Part 2:
Post-Visit Activities)
• Activity Sheet 1 “Artifacts from a Culture”
• Activity Sheet 2 “Object Chart”
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Teacher Notes: Overview of Florida’s First People
Florida’s First People did not have a system of writing, thus they did not leave behind a
written record. Consequently, we do not know exactly how they viewed their own ways of life or
even what they called themselves. Yet evidence does exist that helps us to explain how they
came to America, who they were as a people, and how and why their societies and cultures
evolved over time.
On the one hand, written accounts from early European explorers who encountered Florida’s
First People at a late stage in their cultural development provide some detail on their society and
culture, but these are susceptible to exaggeration, predispositions, or outright fabrication for
varying motives. On the other hand, archaeologists have been able to piece together who these
people were by using various modern scientific methodologies and practices to interpret the
artifacts that they did leave behind for us to study, but are limited in the amount of information
they can gather that has been lost to the ravages of time. By corroborating these primary and
secondary materials, however, much has been discovered about these people.
These First People, or pre-historic Native Americans, are the ancestors of what became the
Native American tribes we know of today (Seminole, Creek, etc.). As abovementioned, we do
not know what these First People called themselves, so for clarity scientists have identified them
through specific cultural traits and developments through the scale of time.
Scientists have divided the pre-historic Native Americans into broad stages in order to make
it easier to know when something happened in relation to others. Our gallery follows these same
periods, beginning chronologically with the least complex cultural stage and ending with the
most complex cultural stage. Each cultural stage is “defined by changes in technology, material
culture, and sociopolitical organization.”1 Scientists have categorized these time periods as the
Paleolithic Stage (13000 BC -8000 BC), Archaic Stage (8000 BC-1000 BC), Woodland Stage
(1000 BC-1000 AD), and Mississippian Stage (1000 AD-1500). Each case in our gallery follows
this same criterion and is labeled accordingly. Provided below is general information on each
time period in which the ITMM’s exhibit is based upon.
The Peopling of the Americas
Although it is still a topic debate among some researchers within several scientific
disciplines, especially since the introduction of the genetic study of mitochondrial DNA, the
migration of people into North America is essentially where the history of Native Americans,
and America, begins. The debate essentially centers on whether people moved across land to
occupy the Americas or traveled by sea along the coast, and where they precisely originated.
Additionally, the chronology of when exactly people migrated is disputed by a few scholars as
well. Some claim dates as far back as 40,000 years ago, while others cite evidence that suggests
25,000 years ago.2
Nonetheless, the most widely accepted view and what is considered to be without doubt is
that around 14,000 years ago small bands of Big Game hunter-gatherers from Siberia, or Eurasia,
followed Ice Age animals into North America in what is today Alaska via the Bering Land
Bridge, or “Beringia,” a land bridge that once connected North America and Eurasia but has
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since been covered with water due to the melting of glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age.
Within a relatively short period of time, these nomadic hunter-gatherers quickly spread
throughout the Americas, eventually making their way to what is now Florida, and subsisted on
both large and small game as well as gathered plants along the way.3
Paleo-Indian Stage
Scientists call the descendents of these nomadic hunters who crossed Beringia and first
occupied the Americas Paleo-Indians, which literally means “ancient Indians.”4 The Paleo-Indian
is “the first recognized cultural stage” by scientists who study the First People, and spans from
roughly 13000 BC to 8000 BC respectively. 5 It is marked by the initial colonization of the
Americas by people who most likely originated from a Siberian cultural prototype.6
During this time period, Florida was physically and climatically much different than it is
today. This was a time when the world was at the end stages of the Pleistocene period, or Ice
Age, and large glaciers covered much of Europe and North America. As a result, sea levels were
much lower and the coasts were much farther out. Additionally, the low sea levels and massive
glaciers made Florida cool and arid, which “meant that a different array of animals and plants
were present,” such as Big Game species like mammoths, mastodons, Pleistocene horses, and
bison.7 These Big Game mammals were extremely important to the Paleo-Indians, and for a large
part accounted for their nomadic life ways as they were a main source of subsistence. However,
somewhere in between 10,000 BC and 8000 BC these Big Game animals became extinct most
likely due to the impact of global warming on subsistence patterns, possibly disease, and over
hunting by Florida’s First People.8 This had a huge impact on their life ways and accounts for the
changes that took place later on.
Few concrete details exist about Paleo-Indians due to the fact that the population was not
large enough to leave behind large quantities of artifacts; most of the artifacts that were left
behind have since deteriorated because it was such a long time ago, and many artifacts that do
exist are now under water as a result of the rising of the sea level over the past 14,000 years.
What then, have archaeologists been able to discern from the artifacts these Paleo-Indians left
behind that have been discovered?
The tool-kit these people carried “contained well-made portable and efficient tools” that were
“designed primarily for hunting and processing animals.”9 They probably traveled in small bands
that were “highly mobile” and “they had hunting and fishing based economy.”10 This allowed
them to “move easily and successfully into new environmental areas.”11 Traditionally, PaleoIndians are described as “hunting and gathering nomads, moving seasonably as the availability of
game and wild plant foods changed, settling only for brief periods when resources such as nuts
or fruits were temporarily plentiful.”12
Archaic Stage
As the climate began to change throughout North America and what is today Florida, so too
did the life ways of pre-historic Native Americans. These climatic alterations correspond to the
Archaic Stage, which began around 8000 BC and ended in 1000 BC. By 8000 BC global
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warming caused the climate to become less cool and melted glaciers, resulting in a rising sea
level and led “to more rainfall and less arid conditions.”13 As a consequence, “water sources
were no longer in short supply,” and prehistoric Native Americans “had more places to camp and
they could stay longer at each camp.”14
In this time period large game animals such as bison and mammoth became extinct, which
made smaller game animals, nuts, seeds, and shellfish much more important to the diet of
prehistoric Native Americans and changed their old ways of nomadic hunter-gathering. During
this stage, people “greatly expanded their knowledge of resources” and “became experts in
tapping the wealth of resources in the forests, river valleys, and coastal areas.”15
The key developments in this stage include increased sedentism, earthwork building, and
large base camp settlements. Several key subsistence changes took place, such as the “inclusion
of aquatic resources in the diet, the cultivation of bottle gourds and squash for containers, and the
use of fired clay.”16 Technological developments in the Archaic Stage were the “invention and
improvement of the atlatl, ground and polished stone artifacts, and the use of shell for tools and
ornaments.”17 And finally, cultural developments included “the first construction of mounds and
earthworks, the formation of large settlements and sites, and establishment of long-distance
trade.”18
Woodland Stage
Dr. Judith Bense, a professor of archaeology at the University of West Florida and founder of
its Archaeology Institute, has perhaps best described the next stage of prehistoric Native
American cultural development with the word “more.” As Dr. Bense explains:
There were more people concentrated in river valleys and along the coastal strip, more
pottery was used throughout the region, more earth mounds were built and used for
burial, more elaborate mortuary rituals were conducted, more trade developed and more
plants were cultivated and stored.19
People in this period “practiced horticulture, made pottery, used the bow and arrow, buried
their dead in cemeteries marked by mounds of earth, and lived in permanent villages.”20
During the Woodland Stage, 1000 BC to 1000 AD, people became even more sedentary. As
an effect of people living together in large groups, not as many people were needed to collect
food. Some individuals became specialized in certain crafts, such as pottery making. Before this
time period, specifically in the Archaic Stage, containers were predominantly made out of soft,
workable stone. However, the Woodland period people began to use clay more widely. In our
gallery, you will see that the ceramic pieces in the Woodland display are very intricate in design
and detail. In fact “pottery was employed for a wider range of purposes” during the Woodland
stage and innovations in pottery technology increased rapidly.21
A major technological innovation during the Woodland Stage was the bow and arrow, which
over time replaced the use of the ataltl. Mound building became a major hallmark during this
time period as well. Most mounds, however, “were singular and the majority of settlements did
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not have mounds.”22 For the most part, mound centers served as focal points for “social,
political, and religious events, while the general population was dispersed in the countryside in
relatively small settlements.”23
Mississippian Stage
The last and most complex cultural stage in the development of pre-historic Native
Americans is called the Mississippian Stage, which lasted from 1000 AD to 1500. This period of
time was named Mississippian by scientists because its primary features were first identified by
researchers along the Mississippi Valley. It began when prehistoric Native American culture
became extremely complex and ended with the arrival of the Europeans who changed their life
ways drastically. Some of the key features of this period include “the development of chiefdoms
and the Southeastern Ceremonial complex, and Platform Mound Centers.”24
People in this time period relied heavily on agriculture, but also collected food from the sea
and continued hunting to supplement their diets. A wide variety of crops were cultivated, which
included “maize, beans, squash, sunflower, marsh elder, and gourd.”25 The Southeastern
Ceremonial Complex marks another major development during the Mississippian Stage. It was
the belief system of the people of the Mississippian Stage, and its “main themes were ancestor
worship, war, and fertility, and these themes were expressed in a myriad of symbols and
objects.”26
Rituals and mounds were the primary means of political control over large chiefdoms.
Settlements were permanent, and came to be more like primitive cities, with large populations
and specialization in the work force. Unlike the other stages, which were egalitarian in nature,
the social hierarchies of the Mississippian chiefdoms were quite rigid, with a leader who had
both political and religious control over the people. Several smaller chiefdoms spread out across
a wide area would normally be under the rule of a much larger chiefdom, or paramount
chiefdom. Trade was widespread throughout the entire North American continent.
Social status was inherited, and warfare between contending chiefdoms became
commonplace as warfare replaced ceremonialism as the primary means of control over large
regions of territory. Instability, violence, and reorganization of complex chiefdoms became
widespread at the end of this stage due to environmental and political catastrophes. This stage
came to an end with the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century.
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GETTING STARTED:
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Teachers wishing to utilize this lesson plan will need to arrange a tour of Indian Temple
Mound Museum for their classes. You may call the City of Fort Walton Beach Heritage Park
and Cultural Center at (850) 833-9595 to make arrangements for available days.
There is an admission fee of $2.00 per student/ chaperone for tax-exempt schools and a fee of
$2.12 for non-tax-exempt schools. Bus drivers and teachers are always free.
Once your trip has been confirmed, a package with information will be sent to you. Please be
sure to read over the material in your package before your trip. You will find helpful parking,
payment and behavior instructions.
Discuss the Pre-Visit Activity with your students to prepare them for their visit to the
museum. Students may also find the time post information useful for recognizing the
changing times in the panhandle. There are also associated vocabulary words. Discuss what
your students will experience at the museum and the behavior expected of them. See exhibit
rules.
EXHIBIT RULES:
The Indian Temple Mound Museum uses Exhibit Rules to make your experience an entertaining
and educational one.
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Please remember that adult supervision is required inside the museum at all times.
The museum exhibits are fragile and require that students appreciate that the building they
are in has a commitment to preservation and protection.
There will be no running or horseplay inside the museum.
There will be no food or drinks inside the museum. (Please inform your chaperones as well)
Please use common classroom courtesy and instruct the students to use their inside voices
when discussions are taking place inside the museum. Chaperones should refrain from
talking to one another during the presentation and cell phones should be silenced.
Remember to have fun!
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VOCABULARY LIST
Archaeologist- A person who studies and practices archaeology
Archaeology- The systematic study of past human life and culture by the recovery and
examination of remaining material evidence, such as graves, buildings, tools, and pottery
Artifact – Any object made by human beings, such as a tool, garment, dwelling, or ornament.
Also, any marking in or on the earth indicating the previous existence of such an object. The
artifacts generally found by archaeologists may have been lost or deliberately left behind
Atlatl - A throwing device usually consisting of a stick fitted with a thong or socket to steady the
butt of a spear or dart and extend the length it travels
Conquistador- A conqueror, especially one of the 16th-century Spanish soldiers who defeated
the Indian civilizations of Mexico, Central America, or Peru
History- Anything that happened in the past that was recorded
Mound- A large earthen construction built by pre-historic American Indians as a substructure for
a public building or to contain human graves
Moundbuilders- The pre-historic builders of earthen mounds, once thought to be a lost race but
now known to be the ancestors of modern American Indians
Museum- A building, place, or institution devoted to the acquisition, conservation, study,
exhibition, and educational interpretation of objects having scientific, historical, or artistic value
Pre-Columbian Of, relating to, or originating in the Americas before the arrival of Columbus
Prehistory- Anything that happened in the past before things were recorded
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TIMEPOSTS:
Time posts are designed to help students orient themselves with the time period being
discussed. The time post below will assist in taking the class back through the ages to the period
they will encounter at the museum.
2007 The seventh and final book of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows, released and became the fasted selling book in history.
2001 World Trade Center and Pentagon attacked in what is known as the 9/11 terrorism attack
on America.
25 Years ago (1980s) E.T. the Extraterrestrial released in theatres (1982).
50 Years ago (1950s) Explorer 1, the United States first satellite launched into space from
Florida, successfully orbits the earth (1958).
150 Years ago (1840s) Florida admitted into the Union and becomes 27th state of the United
States of America (1845).
230 Years ago (1770s) 13 British colonies in North America declare independence from Great
Britain and eventually become United States (1776).
400 Years ago (early 1600s) Pilgrims land on Plymouth Rock (1620).
500 Years ago (early 1500s) Christopher Columbus discovers the New World (1492). Ponce de
Leon lands in Florida and gives Florida its name (1513).
1,000 Years ago (1000 AD) Viking raider Leif Eriksson becomes first documented European to
discover North America, calls it Vinland. Native Americans from Mississippian Stage living on
and around Fort Walton Temple Mound.
5,000 Years ago (4000 BC) Sumer, the oldest known ancient civilization in the Middle East,
arises out of modern day Iraq.
10,000 Years ago (8000 BC) Native Americans, or “First People,” arrive in Florida.
14,000 Years ago (12000 BC) Nomadic people from Siberia cross Bering Land Bridge and enter
North America. For the first time North America is occupied by mankind.
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SETTING THE STAGE: Basic Information on Fort Walton Temple Mound and
People (students will receive this information during presentation at ITMM)
When Christopher Columbus arrived in the Bahamas in 1492, he encountered a people who
called themselves “Taino.” In their language this was the word for “good” or “noble.” They lived
in villages where they grew manioc, sweet potatoes, beans, corn and tobacco. They hunted and
fished for food.
Even though these Native Americans shared their knowledge and possessions with the
Europeans, the Taino endured many hardships. They were forced to work on the Conquistadors
farms and mines. The diseases brought by the Europeans were the worst blow because the Taino
had no natural immunity to them. Over time, these people disappeared.
While Columbus was exploring the islands in the West Indies, there were Native Americans
right here in Fort Walton Beach. In fact, they made homes in a village that extended west from
Liza Jackson Park east to Choctawhatchee Bay, and lived around a very important temple mound
that they built.
What is the Temple Mound?
A mound is not a natural hill or a sand dune, but a mound that was made by people who lived
here from about 800 AD to the late 1400s when the European explorers started arriving in the
New World. The mound is about 12 feet high with a base of about one acre in area. The mound
was made by people carrying baskets filled with dirt and sand to the site, emptied them and went
back again for more. It took hundreds of thousands of baskets filled and carried by many people
to the build the Indian Temple Mound here in Ft. Walton Beach.
Why did people build the Fort Walton Temple Mound?
They built the mound so that a special building could be placed on top of it. It was the
residence of the leader who made the laws and punished those who broke them. The chief lived
there with his entire family. When he died, he was buried in the floor of the house, the house was
burned down and new fill was added to the mound. When a satisfactory height was reached, a
new house was made for the new leader.
What responsibilities did the chief have?
The chief was often a healer; people who were sick or injured would be brought to him to be
cured. The chief was a religious figure who performed important ceremonies in that building so
it was called a temple. The mound that supports it is called a Temple Mound.
What did the pre-historic Native American people look like?
The prehistoric people who lived here did not wear much clothing because the weather was
mild. Small children did not wear any clothing at all. Typically, a man wore a piece of fur
wrapped around his waist. Women wore garments made from Spanish moss and fur as well. Men
and women were heavily tattooed. Tattoos were very important to these people with the designs
telling others about family status, or good deeds, or anything that would make one proud.
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Even though they did not wear much clothing, they did like to be beautiful. They pierced
their ears 10-12 times, noses, lips, and cheeks. The men wore a lot of jewelry made from
seashells or stones.
How did they get their things?
These people got everything they needed from the world around them. If they could not find
it, or could not make it, they did without it.
What did the men do?
The men hunted with bows and arrows and spears. A spear is simply a piece of wood with a
sharp point on the end of it. The men gathered in small groups to hunt small game running on the
ground or larger animals in the distance. They used a tool called an atlatl which made the spear
go further and hit harder so that the hunter would more likely bring home dinner for his family.
Sometimes, the animal would move and the hunter’s spear would hit a tree or the ground. If the
point broke, he would replace it would a new one. Native Americans did not waste anything
from an animal. The fur and hide became clothing and blankets, the bones and antlers became
tools and the meat became food.
The men also fished with cast nets and hooks with lures, and they collected shellfish
What did the women do?
The women grew things to eat in their gardens. They planted corn, beans, and squash,
sunflower seeds, and pumpkins. They also grew things that they did not eat: gourds. They also
collected plants, nuts and berries from the area around them. The women made beautiful baskets
used to hold food while gathering it. Baskets also stored special things. It could be used to hold
tools when not in use. The women also made pottery. Bowls could be used to eat from, cook in,
and collect water from the stream. Everyday pottery was decorated. Not only did the decorations
make the pot beautiful, they created some texture that made the pot easier to handle.
Did they get everything they had from this site?
No. This village was part of an extensive trade network that extended as far north as Maine
and as far south as Texas. Traders brought in goods such as high quality stone. Quality stone was
valued because it could be worked into projectile points, ceremonial symbols, and tobacco pipes.
Trading utilized travel along the creeks, streams, and rivers in dugout canoes. These
waterways in Florida were highways that enabled contact with distant villages for the exchange
of ideas as well as goods.
Why did Europeans come to Florida?
Spanish explorers came to Florida for different reasons. Some came for glory, some came to
convert the native people to their religion and some came for wealth. In 1513 Ponce de Leon
came to Florida seeking gold and the Fountain of Youth. He found neither. However, he named
the land that he encountered “Florida” because he arrived on the Feast Day of Pascua Florida
(The Easter of Flowers). Panfilo de Narvaez arrived in Florida in 1528. He wrote in his journals
about sailing by a body of water believed to be Choctawhatchee Bay. Hernando de Soto landed
in Florida near Tampa in 1539.
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EXTENSIONS
Learning about a Culture from Artifacts
Overview:
We can learn many different things about people from the objects they own, such as what
they do for a living, their status in society, the type of environment they live in, what is important
to them, and several others. For archaeologists, the objects people from past societies left behind
are the key to unlocking the mysteries of who they were and how they lived. These classroom
activities are designed in two parts. The first part is to be completed in class before students visit
the ITMM. The second part is to be concluded after students have visited the ITMM.
Purpose:
This activity will help introduce and spark your students interest to their field trip at the
ITMM, and the pre-historic Native Americans through the artifacts they left behind. Students
will appreciate the difficulties archaeologists face when interpreting unfamiliar objects.
Learning Objectives:
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Students will describe and guess what objects were used for by pre-historic Native
Americans.
Students will identify real artifacts they described in class on their visit to the ITMM and
be able to recall their functions after they depart.
Students will compare and contrast their original descriptions of the artifacts with what
they learned on their trip.
Materials Needed:
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Copies of Activity Sheet 1 for each group
Copies of Activity Sheet 2 for each group
Pens or pencils
Blackboard or Eraser board with chalk or marker
Pre-Visit Procedure:
1) Begin class by asking students what detectives do. Answers will vary, but students will
conclude that detectives look for clues to help them solve some type of mystery. Inform your
students that for this lesson they will work just like detectives do, except their job will be to
solve the mystery of a culture that once lived a long time ago and was quite different from their
own. They will be provided with clues, but it is their job to determine who these people were and
how they lived from the objects they left behind. Tell them this is what archaeologists do.
2) Divide your class up into several “archaeology teams” of equal size (four or five students per
group). Provide each group copies of Activity Sheet 1 “Artifacts from a Culture.” Each group
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will have a leader/speaker and writer, but all of them will discuss and brain storm. Tell the
groups to discuss the artifacts on their "Artifacts from a Culture" sheet with each other.
3) Next, provide each group with Activity Sheet 2 “Object Chart” by handing them out. Instruct
your students to look at the different objects on Activity Sheet 1 and examine them closely. On
Activity Sheet 2, have students list all possible answers in the following format:
Object | Description of Object | What was it used for?
3) If the object is unknown, tell students to write in “unknown” and the number the object is
listed as, but to describe it in the description section and to make a guess based on the description
what it was used for (function). After groups have completed this sheet, write the same format on
board and call on groups to give some of their answers. Discuss differing opinions, if any, groups
have with each other in regards to what they think the identity and use of objects are.
4) Ask your students several questions pertaining to the objects. What do they think the objects
could be made out of? From this, what can it tell us, if anything, about the type of environment
they lived in? What do they think these objects were used for? What does this tell us about the
people who owned them? Fill in some of their answers on the board.
5) Tell your students that the objects they identified on Activity Sheet 1 are in fact real artifacts
(anything a person made or used for a particular purpose) that are on display at a place that
protects and preserves them (ITMM) in Fort Walton Beach. Tell them that these artifacts once
belonged to Native Americans who lived in the Fort Walton Beach area a long time ago, and
they used them in everyday life. Inform them that they will visit this place that preserves and
protects these artifacts, and they are to pay attention during their visit in order to identify what
they actually were used for.
6) Have the groups turn in Activity Sheet 2 and keep it until Part II.
This concludes Part 1.
Post-visit Procedure:
1) The next school day or sometime soon after students visited the ITMM on their field trip, have
students form back into their groups, and hand back their Activity Sheet 2 and a copy of Activity
Sheet 1.
2) Students should now know exactly what these artifacts were used for from their presentation
and tour at the museum. Tell the groups to look back over what they wrote on Activity Sheet 2.
On a separate piece of notebook paper, a new copy of Activity Sheet 2, or on the back of their
original Activity Sheet 2, instruct students to fill out what the artifacts are from what they
learned at the museum by the same format as before:
Object | Description of Object | What was it used for?
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3) Tell students to examine their answers on Activity Sheet 2 from before and after their visit to
the ITMM. Ask the groups to write down which artifacts they guessed correctly the first time
they filled the sheet out. Instruct them to think about the reasons why they were able to guess it
correctly. Tell them to explain the differences on a sheet of paper between their answers before
the visit and the answers after. Group leader/speaker should present some of the answers. Ask
groups several questions: How many did they guess correctly? How many did they guess
incorrectly? Did they find it difficult to determine what the artifacts were? Do they think
archaeologists had to guess what the artifacts were originally?
4) On the board, write same format as on Activity Sheet 2 again:
Object | Description of Object | What was it used for?
One by one, ask each group leader/speaker to tell you what they wrote before and after until all
artifacts on Activity Sheet 1 have been listed, and write them down on the board. After
discussing the artifacts, tell students what artifacts are using Answer Key. Decide which group
had the most accurate interpretation of Activity Sheet 1 they completed during Part 1 of the
classroom extension. Also decide which group had most improvement from Part 1 and Part 2.
6) Collect activity sheets and grade at your discretion.
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Group Number: ________
Activity Sheet 2
Object Chart
Object
Description of Object
What do you think
object was used for?
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Answer Key
1. Atlatl (spear thrower) and spear; used to hunt animals
2. Fish hook made from bone; used to fish
3. Six pointed plate, unique to Fort Walton Culture; scientists are not sure what it was used for,
but have suggested that it might have served as a shallow evaporating pan for salt, or
possibly used in ceremonies
4. Pump-drill; used to drill holes or start fires (European device that Native Americans traded
goods for)
5. Ear plug; used for decoration of body, like earring
6. Projectile point (spear point or arrow point); used in hunting
7. Dug-out canoe; used by Native Americans to travel waterways
8. Shell gardening hoe; used to till soil
9. Grinding stone; used by Native Americans to ground corn, berries, nuts
10. Stick ball tall stick; used by Native Americans for playing a game called “Stick Ball.” They
would catch the ball on throw it with this device
11. “Buck” Urn; used by Native Americans to hold ashes of deceased person after cremation
These artifacts provide several clues to archaeologists about how the Native American people
lived in the Fort Walton area. By themselves, a limited amount of information about who these
people were and how they lived can be garnered. Taken altogether, however, they can provide us
with many answers to questions archaeologists have regarding their culture and life ways.
The atlatl and projectile point, for example, show that they hunted regularly for their food.
The fish hook is a clue that they were living next to water and fished as well. The materials they
were made out of can tell us a lot as well, such as the types of wood and stone were available to
them in their surrounding environment. Also, from the stone, bone and wood archaeologists can
get an accurate date of when it was made and also where they might have gotten the materials
from (through trade or locally). Additionally, the shell gardening hoe and grinding stone provide
clues to their diets, which demonstrate that they farmed and utilized many different types of
crops. The shell also indicates that the Native Americans made great use out of the resources
from the waterways and ocean around them in tool making (and food).
The six pointed plate is unique to the Fort Walton culture, and demonstrates that their pottery
crafting skills and artistic ability were highly developed and creative. Like the six pointed plate,
the ear plug is made out of clay from the local area, and can provide details into their views of
beauty. The clay from both the plate and ear plugs can be dated as well.
18
The dug-out canoe demonstrates that they were highly mobile and used the waterways to
their advantage (for trade or travel). With Florida's vast coastline, the Native Americans used it
to transport goods, people, and ideas throughout the region. The pump drill, although not a
Native American invention (it is European in origin), suggests that the natives were trading with
Europeans or for European goods, and substituted their local devices for more technologically
advanced ones.
The tall stick provides us with evidence of what types of games they played, and the "Buck"
urn again demonstrates their highly developed pottery techniques as well as how they revered
their ancestors.
It is from clues from artifacts such as these that archaeologists are able to tell us with
confidence how the Native Americans who once lived in the Fort Walton area lived, worked and
played. Although they are no longer around and left no written records to tell us about
themselves, the objects the Native Americans left behind allow them to speak to us about who
they were as a people and how they lived. By protecting and preserving these artifacts, we
become the guardians of their voices for future generations to hear.
Endnotes
1
Judith A. Bense, Archaeology of the Southeastern United States: Paleoindian to World War I, Academic Press,
San Diego, 1994, 3.
2
Brian M. Fagan, The Great Journey: The Peopling of Ancient America 2004 Edition, University Press of Florida,
Gainesville, 2004, viii.
3
Jerald Milanich, Florida’s Indians from Ancient Times to the Present, University of Florida Press, 1998,
4
Ibid.
5
Archaeology of the Southeastern United States, 38.
6
Archaeology, 47.
7
Florida’s Indians, 3.
8
Archaeology, 24.
9
Ibid., 58.
10
Ibid.
11
Ibid.
12
The Paleoindian Historical Context, Nina Borremans, Florida Department of State, Office of Cultural and
Historical Programs, http://dhr.dos.state.fl.us/facts/reports/contexts/paleo.cfm.
13
Florida Indians, 12.
14
Ibid.
15
Archaeology, 105.
16
Ibid.
17
Ibid.
18
Ibid, 62.
19
Archaeology, 110.
20
Dean R. Snow, The Archaeology of North America, Chelsea House Publishers, New York, 1989, 139.
21
Archaeology, 110.
22
Ibid, 182.
23
Ibid.
24
Ibid, 184.
25
Ibid, 252.
26
Ibid.
19