Aside from stratigraphic testing, students were exposed to a variety of other field techniques.  Reconnaissance survey along transects at Hontoon Island gave everyone an opportunity to experience the reality of digging negative tests across an inhospitable terrain of thick saw palmetto.  One new shell midden was located on the island and one crew got the chance to extend the boundaries of a shell midden tested by Barbara Purdy in the 1980s.  Shovel tests at this site yielded dozens of St. Johns II sherds.
2000 Field School Participants (top row, left to right): Michael "Whitey" White, Leslie Campbell, Heather Hardester, Lesley Martin, Maile Miller, Jon Endonino, Rachel Miller, John Bevard, Brett Casteel, Scott Hussey, Ben Burkley, Pat O'Day, Sharyn O'Day; (bottom row, left to right): Mark Donop, Sean Connaughton, Meggan Blessing, Devon McAuliffe, Korinn Braden, Jim Mallard, Amanda Nadeau, Shelley Dittman, Audrey Hull, Sean "Odie" Odenwald, Jeremy Fuller.
	BACK IN THE LAB.... Sorting of shell midden matrix is a tedious process that requires hundreds of volunteer hours in the lab.  But even as sorting continues some specialized analyses have already begun.  UF anthro undergrad Sean Connaughton (left) received a University Scholars Award to investigate aspects of ecological change in the subsistence columns from Blue Spring.  Although Sean's work will involve a variety of data sets, he is focusing first on evidence among the numerous freshwater snail shells from the sites.
Field school students Rachel Miller, Audrey Hull, Jim Mallard, and Odie Odenwald prepared a display on the 2000 field school that features a simulated stratigraphic section of shell midden.  Located in the basement of Turlington Hall across from the archaeology lab (B375), the display is a nice complement to the field and lab work and will hopefully attract the attention of prospective students for next year's field school.

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