Leading archeologist visits Youth Ambassadors

Kayley Sutton, Youth Ambassador
Pedro Menendez High School, Class of 2015
Special to HISTORIC CITY NEWS

The Youth Ambassadors of St. Augustine were privileged to have Dr. Kathy Deagan come speak in October in order to learn about the town of St. Augustine through her archeological findings.

Dr. Deagan began attending college and realized that there weren’t many jobs for women. So she turned to something that interested her … archeology. Dr. Deagan is now the Distinguished Research Curator of Archeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History. She previously taught at Florida State University but now teaches at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where she is creating a name for herself as a leading archeologist in Florida.

Dr. Deagan shared with the Youth Ambassadors that The Enterprise of Florida is a book written by Dr. Eugene Lyon and that most of the known information about Pedro Menendez came from this book. Menendez was the ninth person to try and conquer Florida, and was the first to succeed.

She specializes in the Spanish Colonial period. She has written eight books and over 65 scientific papers. Recently, she has been working on digs at the Fountain of Youth in downtown St. Augustine.

The Fountain of Youth is the location of the first encampment in St. Augustine in 1565. Menendez set out from Spain with two thousand people and seventeen ships. The ships carried five hundred soldiers, two hundred seamen, and one hundred others (clergymen, civilians, and twenty-six women).

By the time they reached Florida, there were five ships left. Many had to turn back for various reasons including sickness. Nobody knows the exact landing site on September 8, 1565, but it was in Hospital Creek.

By late October, only two hundred people remained in St. Augustine. It was hard to get land in Spain, so the Spaniards wanted to come to St. Augustine to have property and a good life in a new world.

Dr. Deagan also explained that her favorite artifact that has been found is a little statuette made of black jet. It is called a “figa” and was thought to have magical qualities and protect children from evil and disease.

She says that more digs will be performed in St. Augustine in April and May of 2015, and if people want to volunteer, they should feel free to do so. Contact the Saint Augustine Archeological Department at 823-2263 and mention that you want to work with Dr. Kathy Deagan from University of Florida.

The Youth Ambassadors thank her very much for taking time to teach us so much about archeology and our city’s history.