Reviewed by John H. Jameson, Jr., published in Historical Archeology*

The Apalachee Indians and Mission San Luis sets a new standard for so-called "popular histories" in that it gives the general-audience reader a most impressive and engaging information package without oversimplifying the story. The book uses a creative and skillful presentation technique that achieves a high level of communication by interweaving an entertaining explanation of historical accounts with related and recently uncovered archaeological evidence. The authors, editors, and publishers should be congratulated for creating a masterful design that engages, holds, informs, and entertains-all the wish-for elements in a book that tries to make the past more accessible to non-specialists and the lay public.

The book also represents an important part of the rapidly developing avalanche of information on Florida missions and the Spanish entrada that has come from archival and archaeological research in the last twenty years. It helps expel popular and inaccurate notions about the Spanish "conquest" of Florida by emphasizing that Spanish influence and "missionization" developed in stages and in contrast to the pattern that developed in New Mexico, California, and parts of South America characterized by an imposition of military force, forced domestication of livestock, and an economic enterprise dominated by friars. In fact, a paid labor draft was the only formal economically exploitative institution imposed on Florida Indians, and even that was effectively resisted by the Apalachee and their Timucuan neighbors to the east.

Another impressive and attractive feature of the book is its price: $49.95 for hardback and only $19.95 for the paper version. The price is more impressive in light of the book's 120 color illustrations. In an era where publication prices are increasingly prohibitive for many, accessibility in terms of affordability is almost as important as an engaging and skillful presentation, especially in a book aimed at the general reader.

The San Luis Mission community, located within the city limits of present-day Tallahassee, is probably the most thoroughly documented mission in Florida. It served as Spain's western provincial capital in America during the second half of the seventeenth century. In terms of size and influence, it was second only to St. Augustine.

Archaeologically derived information and objects can inspire a wide variety of visual media ranging from  more traditional computer-generated reconstructions and artist's conceptions to other artistic expressions such as poetry and opera (Finn 1999; Ehrenhard and Bullard 1999). Although some level of conjecture will always be present in these art works, they are often no less conjectural than technical interpretations and have the benefit of providing visual and conceptual imagery that can communicate contexts and settings in a compelling way. We can look at archaeology's connections to art and music as a different way of valuing and defining the resource and making it more meaningful to the public.

One of the impressive aspects of The Apalachee Indians and Mission San Luis that sets it apart is its skillful use of illustrations and interpretive art. Archaeological images, such as excavation plan maps and computer-simulated diagrams, are interspersed among photographs and historical drawings to help the reader make the connection between the telling of the story and the importance of archaeological research. One example of a skillful and creative illustration is a full-page photograph on page two that depicts several different types of ceramic vessels found at Mission San Luis. The focal point of the photo is a vessel that, in contrast to the other unbroken items, has been obviously reconstructed from archaeological fragments. Two of the unbroken vessels are filled with corn and beans, respectively. The effect is an unconscious connection and realization by the reader of the contributions and importance of archaeology in the interpretive explanations of daily life.

The colorful paintings by Edward Jonas are outstanding and add attractive and contrasting color to the illustrations. John LoCastro's artwork, developed for use in the interpretive signs at the Mission San Luis site, further enhances the book. Clever and economic use is made of these original art works by interspersing repeated, cropped versions of them throughout the text, sometimes as reversed images and at differing scales, resulting in a greater number and variety of figures.

The name "Apalachee" through its modern derivative "Appalachian" has been so well established in the modern lexicon that we might presume the Apalachee Indians were one of the most powerful and influential of all Native American groups with a vast geographical disbursement over the eastern half of North America. This would be partially true, for they were uncommonly powerful and influential for their size and territory. So fierce was their resistance to the Spanish incursions led by of Panfilo De Narvaez in 1528 and Hernando de Soto in 1539 that they were virtually left alone by the Spanish and all other European powers for the next hundred years. In fact, however, Apalachee Province in the early sixteenth century was a densely populated (estimated at ca. 60,000) yet geographically small chiefdom. Located in the Big Bend area of the Florida panhandle, its territorial rule extended only about 65 kilometers (40 miles) inland from the Gulf Coast between the Aucilla and Ochlockonee rivers.

As the book points out, the stories of gold treasures that attracted Narvaez and de Soto may have been an afterglow of the greatest Mississippian mound complex in Florida, today known as Lake Jackson Mounds. This mounds site is assumed to be the antecedent to both the historically documented and archaeologically investigated Apalachee village of Anhaica (site of de Soto's camp) and San Luis de Inihaica (Mission San Luis). The site of Anhaica, discovered in 1988 by state archaeologist B. Calvin Jones, serves as a geographic and chronological point of reference for the Spanish entrada and as a focal point for the study of the effects of cross-cultural contact.

The book tells the story of the Apalachee, beginning with their prehistoric Mississippian ancestors and first contact with Europeans in the 1500s, to their final dispersal following attacks by the English and their Indian allies in 1704. It explains the important roles the Apalachee played in the history of Florida and southeastern North America. It provides a detailed account of Mission San Luis and its cast of colorful characters that included the native Indians and their leaders as well as Spanish governors, friars, soldiers, and civilians. Interpretations derived from archaeology and an impressive array of historical documents give us a close glimpse of Apalachee society, belief systems, social organization, structures, daily life, and recreation activities at the mission.

The volume is divided into five chapters. Chapter one describes the setting of the Apalachee Province in the vicinity of the present-day city of Tallahassee, Florida. Lake Jackson Mounds was the capital of a major Mississippian chiefdom. The village of Anhaica, with a population of approximately 30,000, was the capital of the Apalachee Province when Hernando de Soto set up camp there in the winter of 1539-1540.  Hearing of de Soto's approach, the Apalachee abandoned Anhaica, its 250 buildings, and ample supply of food. De Soto occupied the Apalachee village for the winter, facing constant harassment by the Apalachee.

Chapter two supplies background on initial Spanish missionary efforts of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries and also provides an outline of seventeenth century Apalachee society. We learn of the initial and largely unsuccessful missionary efforts of 1608-1633 and the eventual establishment of the successful and better-documented Mission San Luis, which became the capital of Spanish west Florida  from 1656 to 1704. Like most Mississippian-descended societies, the Apalachee were matrilineal as well as matrilocal. The Apalachee were related linguistically to the Muskhogean language family in contrast to their Timucuan speaking neighbors to the east. Mostly men, and rarely also women, played the Apalachee ball game, which was called "the younger brother of war" and, in fact, was alleged to be a substitute for war. Although the Spanish and the Apalachee had previously managed to largely avoid each other, by the late 1590's, the Apalachee, as well many other Florida Indians, approached the Spanish about receiving friars in their villages. A complex set of factors seemed to have brought this about, including a fear of growing Spanish power and a concern about the close relationships that had developed between the Spanish and the traditional enemy of the Apalachee, the Timucuans. Incessant and calamitous epidemics may also have shaken faith in traditional beliefs.

Chapter three contains an excellent and "dejargonized" description of the remarkably chronicled Mission community at San Luis, including both Apalachee and Spanish residents, community organization and related structures, foodways, details of the Apalachee ball game, and religion. Here we are treated to many of the skillful techniques used in the book to help the reader understand the connection between archaeology and the telling of the story. A sprinkling of illustrations of archaeologically derived artifacts and data, together with original artwork illustrations, drawings, and photographs, is combined with a compelling prose, resulting in an informative and entertaining reading experience.

Chapters four and five describe the conditions and forces that led to the decline and eventual destruction of the Apalachee missions and Mission San Luis by the English and their Indian allies in 1704. The northern, eastern, and western migrations of the remaining Apalachee are outlined with closing comments on the last vestiges of Apalachee identity in present-day Louisiana.

An appendix containing a color-coded, seven-page genealogical chart of the Florencia family gives further details on the complex relationships of the most influential family among the Spanish residents and ranchers.

An excellent two-page "Further Reading" section provides sources for obtaining greater details and background, including Ewen and Hann (1998) and McEwan (1993).

The authors, John H. Hann, research historian, and Bonnie G. McEwan, archaeologist, are both on the staff of San Luis Mission de Apalachee historic site which is co-managed by the Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research and the Museum of Florida History. We are familiar with John Hann and Bonnie McEwan as the editors, authors, and co-authors of several recent publications about the Florida Missions. Both are prominent authorities on the Florida Apalachee of northwest Florida. It is inspirational to many of us that technical experts in history and archaeology can also team up to be such compelling storytellers.

This book is a superb model as a popular history designed and written for a general audience of readers.  Its skillful and creative use of original artwork and colorful illustrations, interwoven and linked to creatively and clearly presented archaeological information, sets the standard for other popular histories to emulate.  And, at $19.95 for the paperback version, it is affordable!

References Cited

Finn, Christine
 1999  'Digging': a Poetry and Archaeology Workshop. Presented at the World
  Archaeological Congress 4, Cape Town, South Africa, January 1999.

Ehrenhard, John E., and Mary R. Bullard
 1999 Archaeology and Opera: Zabette. World Wide Web, URL:
  http://www.cr.nps.gov/seac/zabette.htm. Southeast Archeological Center, National Park
   Service, Tallahassee, Florida.

Ewen, Charles R. and John H. Hann
 1998 Hernando de Soto among the Apalachee: The Archaeology of the First Encampment.
  Ripley P. Bullen Series,University Press of Florida, Gainesville.

McEwan, Bonnie G.
 1993 The Spanish Missions of La Florida. Columbus Quincentenery Series, University Press of
  Florida, Gainesville.
 

        JOHN H. JAMESON, JR.
        SOUTHEAST ARCHEOLOGICAL CENTER
        NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
        2035 E. PAUL DIRAC DRIVE, BOX 7
        JOHNSON BUILDING, SUITE 120
        TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA 32310
 

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