Hello and welcome to Episode Twenty Eight of Page Turn: the Largo Public Library Podcast. I'm your host, Hannah!
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The Spanish Language Book Review begins at 15:47 and ends 20:08 at
The English Language Transcript can be found below
But as always we start with Reader's Advisory!
The Reader's Advisory for Episode Twenty Eight is Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. If you like Red, White & Royal Blue you should also check out: The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory, Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell, and Boyfriend Material by Alexia Hall.
My personal favorite Goodreads list Red, White & Royal Blue is on is Books That Make You Vomit With Joy!.
Today’s Library Tidbit is about the history of the Native American population of the greater Tampa Bay Area.
The first people to live in the area were Paleoamerican peoples. We don’t know much about them as we do later people groups as many of the artifacts that they would have left behind have either decayed with age, or are underwater. The Florida coast line being much different then than now. Much of what we know about the Paleoamerican people in Florida come from archaeologists doing underwater excavating in springs. The first people arrived in Florida during the time of the Pleistocene megafauna, think mammoths, giant tortoises, and bison antiquus. Paleoamericans used stone tools, including spear points, blades, scrapers, gouges, and more. Archaeologists have also discovered ivory, antler, shell, and wood tools, including eyed needles, pins, mortars and a throwing stick or boomerang. The closest site to Pinellas County that has been discovered and excavated is the Harney Flats site in Hillsborough County.
The next distinct culture that we have archaeological records for is the Manasota culture. The Manasota are named for the modern names given to the area that they mostly lived in, Manatee and Sarasota. It’s important to keep in mind that most names for prehistoric peoples are names given to them by modern people, probably white people who have no familial connection to them. The most famous archaeological site for the Manasota in Pinellas County, at what is now the St Pete-Clearwater airport, is now named Yat Kitischee a Muskogee name that means “red people”. Muscogee is one of two officials languages of the Seminole Tribe. The original site was Moog Midden after the electronics plant that was nearby.
The Manasota culture was fully adapted to coastal life. Archaeological sites have been found along estuaries and near bays for easy access to fish and shellfish, as well as along rivers for access to plants and land animals. There is evidence that they hunted and fished with spears and harpoons with bone and stone points. They may also have used bow and arrow for fishing and hunting as well, though there is less archaeological evidence to suggest that.
Most of what we know about the Manasota culture revolves around their burial rites. Older Manasota burial plots are found near settlements and do not hold any grave goods or evidence of preferential treatment for the dead. This suggests a more egalitarian culture, however, we do not know this for certain. As time passed the Manasota adopted the mortuary practices of surrounding cultures, which included some ceremonial or religious burial practices. Around 200 ad there is evidence that the Manasota adopted the religious practices of Weedon Island. First the Manasota adopted the practice of burial mounds for their dead, but later they also adopted the practice of burying their dead with grave goods.
We do not have evidence for what happened to the Manasota culture, but it is believed that they were assimilated into the Safety Harbor culture which appeared around 900 ad. The Safety Harbor culture is named from an archaeological site in Safety Harbor, which is in turn named for being a safe harbor from pirates in...
