An Artifact Donation for Local Research

[tomclark]

I've walked an eroding midden beach site for more than 20 years before it was "fixed" and no longer collectible. It is a Manasota site. The Manasota culture was an archaeological culture that was practiced on the central Gulf coast of the Florida peninsula from about 500 BCE until about 900, when it developed into the Safety Harbor culture. It was visited by the Spanish and the British and was occupied during the 1st and 2nd Indian Wars as well as the Civil War on into the present day. I picked up every little piece of pottery, indian or not, and kept them together. Found a few pipes, some gunflints etc etc.... I'm not going to do anything with them and I never researched every little piece like I wanted to. I have a friend who works at the Weedon Island center and I took them over to the research area to donate them. They were VERY happy since archaeologists dig little holes here and there and I combed the entire site over and over for years. I just got a breakdown of some of the donation and also got this form. Apparently they are on loan per agreement. I was real happy to see the results of their analysis and to add to the history of the site and st. Petersburg. A friend of mine found six or so Spanish gunflints at this site and they were giddy to see those but my friend did not donate them...yet. Donating these gives me more satisfaction than finding them and keeping them in a box in a drawer. btw these archies totally agree that picking these up was not harmful and most helpful...even though it is, especially now, illegal to pick any artifact up on the site.
AWIARE_Curation Agreement_Tom Clark.pdf

[Cecilia]

The display will have a little sign “From The Collection Of Thomas G. Clark”. You are memorialized !!

[tomclark]

Yep, thanks Cece! I hope it says "Ex Coll Tom Clark" I like the ring of that.. Should I donate my ENTIRE local collection???? nope lol

[SDhunter]

Very nice thing to do Tom.

[Lindenmeier-Man]

Excellent ! Now and for the future ! History saved for study ! Good on you Sir !

[Eric L]

That is very cool! Used to live just down the street from Weedon but never did get down there much!

[Hal Gorges]

I believe someone already picked off a couple a pieces some time back ....don’t do it. don’t know about security now though.
...

[Kentucky point]

A very nice gesture, Tom, and I hope to see it one day!

[gregszybala]

Way cool Tom. Let us know if they actually look everything over and give you some feedback.

[tomclark]

They did look over it all and gave me a list with the info...it's in the PDF I posted... but I can't copy the format of the PDF to post here...

ATTACHMENT B: LIST OF ARTIFACTS FROM MAXIMO BEACH, 8 PI31 RECEIVED FROM THOMAS G. CLARK, 2/21/2020 Gunflints, British, 19th C. 3 Ceramic sherds Transfer‐printed Pearlware, purple & red, 1829+ 16 Transfer‐printed Pearlware, blue & green, 1784‐1850 18 Chinese Export Porcelain, polychrome, 1680‐1850 4 Feather/Shell‐edged Pearlware, blue, 1802‐1832 10 Pearlware, plain 6 Pearlware, hand‐painted, polychrome, 1795‐1840 3 Salt‐glazed Stoneware, sponge decorated, 1890+ 1 Ironstone, plain, 1840+ 6 Ironstone, "J&G Meakin", 1891+ 1 Misc. Stoneware, 1825+; unslipped interior 1825‐1860 44 Banded Stoneware, "Buckeye Root Beer", 1919‐1933 1 Salt‐glazed Stoneware, 2‐gallon crock, #2 emboseed stamp 3 Ironstone, "John Maddock & Sons", 1891+ 1 Lead‐glazed Coarse Earthernware, green, 16th‐19th C. 3 Majolica, blue on white, 1750‐1850 2 Majolica, liight green on gray design, 3 Flow‐blue Pearlware, emboassed, 1825‐1910 1 Blue Pearlware, embossed, 19th C. 2 Basalt Ware, 1760s‐1840s 1 Hand‐painted, salt‐glazed 1 Unidentified, white dense paste, unglazed 1 Coarse Earthenware, unidentified 1 Banded Annularware, on whiteware, 1815‐1860 1 Olive Jar, Middle, 1560‐1800 17 Olive Jar, Late, 1800‐1900 36 Unidentified Coarse Earthenware 2 Unidentified 2 Clay Pipes Kaolin pipe stems, 1698‐late 1800s 1 Molded pipe bowl, reed stem, 1750+ 2 Glass Very dark green ("black") glass bottle fragments 44 Same, push‐up heels 9 Same, body sherd (case gin) with embossed seal & bell logo, Van den Bergh & Co., 1868‐1903+ 1 Same, bottle finish, laid on ring, 1830‐1870 1 Same, bottle finish, applied finish, glass spillover, ~1830‐1885 3 Same, bottle finish 2 Misc. modern glass 5 Molded vessel rim, white 1 Lead bar, enscribe with letter M or W 1

[gregszybala]

doh, I only looked at the certificate, maybe i should scroll down.

[Josie]

That's awesome of you Tom to share with the community.

[Olden]

Nice that you've kept the site finds together, and can now document the site Tom.
I thought a few screen grabs might be easier on the eyes..

[tomclark]

Thx, Olden!!

[sailorjoe]

Hi Tom. Good for you. I'm glad that they were happy to receive your gift and credited you properly.

[Broken Arrow]

Good on you, Tom. I'm glad they gave you some credit and were happy to get them.