Uzi Baram | New College of Florida (original) (raw)

Videos by Uzi Baram

“The Underground Railroad is Here: Commemorating Angola” is a short video focused on the 2020 eff... more “The Underground Railroad is Here: Commemorating Angola” is a short video focused on the 2020 efforts to understand the daily lifeways of the early 19th century marronage of Angola on the Manatee River: In January 2020 excavations by the Manatee Mineral Spring in east Bradenton, Florida, brought forward material traces of the many histories by the spring, including evidence of everyday life for the people of Angola. Ongoing research at the New College Public Archaeology Lab is highlighted in the Florida Public Archaeology Network – west central region produced video for the 2020 International Underground Railroad Month

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Articles and Book Chapters by Uzi Baram

Heritage and Cultural Heritage Tourism: International Perspectives, edited by Pei-Lin Yu, Thanik Lertcharnrit and George S. Smith, pages 73-84. Springer., 2023

Merchants and pilgrims, travelers, tourists are the types and phases in the history of travel. Wi... more Merchants and pilgrims, travelers, tourists are the types and phases in the history of travel. With the Anthropocene, heritage tourism is changing due to the recursive relationship between tourism and heritage destinations. Heritage locales, subject to political and increasing environmental pressures, tell of significant moments for a community (whether local, regional, global) and tourists engage the presented past and the experience can inspire knowledge to be shared with their home communities. This chapter recognizes those going to Anthropocene heritage sights as visitors and explores their potential in documenting climate change, as part of an archaeology that looks to potential futures.

Teaching Anthropology, 2023

Teaching that includes exposing systematic inequalities, racism, and sexism is facing challenges ... more Teaching that includes exposing systematic inequalities, racism, and sexism is facing challenges in Florida, USA. While the news media covers the new legislation in Florida, laws that are being replicated across the United States and dovetail with similar political intrusions into academia across the globe, the implications are found with how practices have changed. Reflecting on two decades of teaching on race and ethnicity in global perspective, this article describes the anthropology course offered at an honors college in terms of the teaching style, structure, and content. An anthropology of optimism and hope animates the pedagogy. Yet the course faces scrutiny under 2022 state legislation and is no longer being offered at New College of Florida.

Adventures in Florida Archaeology, 2022

In archaeological research, laboratory analysis takes more than triple the time of excavations an... more In archaeological research, laboratory analysis takes more than triple the time of excavations and transforms what we find to what we find out. January 2020 excavations in Bradenton, described in the 2021 issue of Adventures in Florida Archaeology, produced 35,000 belongings. Only a small percentage are dated to the late 18th to early 19th century, the period when maroons created a community we call Angola on the south side of the Manatee River. But from those materials insights into the daily lives of those freedom seeking people are coming forward.

Adventures in Florida Archaeology, 2021

Description of the community-based archaeology program that is revealing daily life for the early... more Description of the community-based archaeology program that is revealing daily life for the early 19th-century maroon community of Angola on the Manatee River, Florida

Journal of Florida Studies, 2021

This tour of the freedom-seeking people focuses on the early 19th century Florida Gulf Coast; som... more This tour of the freedom-seeking people focuses on the early 19th
century Florida Gulf Coast; some of the locations are hidden in plain sight. The settlements were along major rivers entering the Gulf of Mexico, places where archaeological research has recovered and even reconstructed the landscapes of freedom. In one of those heritage sites, diasporic people have returned to celebrate on the ground their ancestors found liberty. The evidence for this early 19th-century history is fragmentary and in the process of being organized, analyzed, and disseminated. Traveling across the contemporary landscape, the places can be missed. But the result of noticing this robust heritage animates understandings of history beneath our feet as we travel down the Florida peninsula.

Present Pasts, 2019

To mark history, governments authorize the erecting of markers, signs on the landscape meant to i... more To mark history, governments authorize the erecting of markers, signs on the landscape meant to inform. While historical markers have a long tradition for identifying places with significant events and people, there has been an expansion on what and how to mark places and their heritage. Signs capture the attention and provide information for those interested in learning about where they are at the moment. They are in-situ teaching tools, open to anyone able to interpret the heritage for broad audiences, and can encourage places for cosmopolitanism, canopies for people to learn about the past and each other.

Journal of African Diaspora Archaeology and Heritage , 2019

This article provides discussion and commentary on the theoretical and methodological contributio... more This article provides discussion and commentary on the theoretical and methodological contributions provided by the studies included in this thematic collection of articles entitled “Refuge and Support: Historical Archaeologies of Multiracial Native American and African American Sites and Communities.” I also address related issues in my research on Angola, a historic maroon community in Florida. The history of Angola and the surrounding region included individuals of Seminole and African American heritage and the creation of a maroon community of refuge from European American slavery and racism.

Transforming Heritage Practice in the 21st Century Contributions from Community Archaeology, 2019

Heritage adds value to a wide range of endeavors, with heritage tourism and historic designations... more Heritage adds value to a wide range of endeavors, with heritage tourism and historic designations presented as opportunities for economic development. Other values for heritage include increasing social capital, using places, heirlooms, and stories to pass on traditions and increase the understanding of locales and history. Public archaeologists and other heritage professions have been using heritage to engage, partner, and contribute to communities. Community-based and transparent heritage practices, whether archaeological investigations or creating new representations of the past for a location, offer positive and continuing opportunities for heritage as positive social actions. An example from the Florida Gulf Coast will illustrate how radical openness for a project facilitated archaeological outreach moving beyond specific research goals to catalyze new endeavors based on the history uncovered. From public archaeology that revealed a previously unknown nineteenth-century maroon community, the freely shared information and insights led to creative expression, innovative uses of newly revealed histories, and more research that went far beyond what the research team might have produced. Such heritage activism allows interest in, and support for, heritage in a manner that can compete with market-driven concerns and expand knowledge and appreciation of the past.

International Journal of Heritage Studies, 2018

Archaeological excavations and presentations are memory-work, offering tactile and visual materia... more Archaeological excavations and presentations are memory-work, offering tactile and visual materials for consideration of the past. In a coastal Florida city, growing rapidly through in-migration of retirees and service industry employment opportunities, few are aware or concerned over history. A recent heritage revival for an African American neighborhood in Sarasota is transforming the landscape with heritage interpretation signs. Yet segregation haunts that history, with a reaction marring the positive trajectory for the city. Understanding the swirl of hidden histories and memories in terms of race, community, and heritage radiates from social justice and the concept of social justice is expanded through discussion of a tradition rarely mentioned in heritage studies: tikkun ha-olam.

A profile on the New College Public Archaeology Lab and its civic engagement programs

Anthropology News, 2014

Southwest Florida might be best known through the theming of paradise -the timeless beauty of its... more Southwest Florida might be best known through the theming of paradise -the timeless beauty of its beaches to attract retirees and tourists. The place out of time fits neoliberal consumerism but does little to sustain efforts for historic preservation. Few notice the impressive, if hidden, material heritage.

The Ancient Near East Today , 2013

Historical Archaeology 46(1):108-122, 2012

Since 2005, a multidisciplinary public anthropology program has been looking for Angola, an early... more Since 2005, a multidisciplinary public anthropology program has been looking for Angola, an early-19th-century maroon community south of Tampa Bay. Angola provides a link between the beacons of freedom in the northern tier of Florida (Fort Mosé, Prospect Bluff, and the Suwannee settlements) and the later settlements of African Seminoles in the Bahamas and Central Florida. With few documentary resources available, a map is used as an entry point to the lifeways of the maroons of Florida. While labeled Old Spanish Fields, the location represents a place where diverse individuals came together as maroons and interacted with Seminoles, British filibusters, and Cuban fishermen, among others, in the shadow of the Spanish Empire. Their crops indicate the resilience of the peoples who fought for their freedom from slavery. With American rule, the community was devastated, its landscape erased, and the cosmopolitan community unmixed.

Ideologies in Archaeology, edited by Reinhard Bernbeck and Randall H. McGuire, pages 107-129. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 2011

With the rapid growth of the tourist industry, archaeology is being drawn into heritage tourism. ... more With the rapid growth of the tourist industry, archaeology is being drawn into heritage tourism. Recent studies have examined the intersection of archaeology and tourism within globalization. The widely recognized potential of the partnership includes new funding sources as well as expanding popular support for archaeology. The two major demands of tourism on archaeology are access and relevance. For tourism, relevance focuses on meeting the demands of consumers, particularly those who want access to authentic or entertaining presentations. The notion of access is a positive demand, until one raises concern for the fragility of archaeological sites. Access and relevance raise an additional paradox of heritage tourism: engagement with a vague concept of public, a felt sense of what people are willing to see, reproduces assumptions about the past and of archaeology in society. Within the various definitions of archaeological heritage, the key concern falls to the present needs of consumers of the past. While the previous public archaeology sought to serve a generalized and vague future, today's engagements with heritage tourism are focused on the present. Similar to other work on the sociopolitics of archaeology, a critical examination of the shifts in public archaeology allows illumination of the implications of archaeological actions within the parameters influenced by the new discourse. Two studies from Florida are used to problematize the notion of public, with consequences compared in global perspective.

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Heritage and Cultural Heritage Tourism: International Perspectives, edited by Pei-Lin Yu, Thanik Lertcharnrit and George S. Smith, pages 73-84. Springer., 2023

Teaching Anthropology, 2023

Adventures in Florida Archaeology, 2022

Adventures in Florida Archaeology, 2021

Journal of Florida Studies, 2021

Present Pasts, 2019

Journal of African Diaspora Archaeology and Heritage , 2019

Transforming Heritage Practice in the 21st Century Contributions from Community Archaeology, 2019

International Journal of Heritage Studies, 2018

A profile on the New College Public Archaeology Lab and its civic engagement programs

Anthropology News, 2014

The Ancient Near East Today , 2013

Historical Archaeology 46(1):108-122, 2012

Ideologies in Archaeology, edited by Reinhard Bernbeck and Randall H. McGuire, pages 107-129. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 2011

The development of a heritage trail in Florida offering opportunities for linking numerous archae... more The development of a heritage trail in Florida offering opportunities for linking numerous archaeological and historic sites and raising questions for the partnership between archaeology and tourism.

v Preface Archaeology has a long and distinguished tradition in the Middle East, but its realm ha... more v Preface Archaeology has a long and distinguished tradition in the Middle East, but its realm has been limited to uncovering the history and social processes of the distant past. During the late 1980s, a number of scholars, following the lead of post-medieval archaeology in western Europe and Historical Archaeology in North America and coastal Africa, made calls for an archaeology of the recent past of the Middle East. Those calls included improving the discipline of archaeology by testing notions in the material record of the recent past, finding the commonalities in history for national groups that imagined their pasts as separate, and countering the impact of colonialism and imperialism in the region by exposing historical trajectories. The contemporary political situation in the region made it increasingly clear that new bridges to connect the distant past and the present were possible and necessary.

For researchers interested in the long, ancient history on the Florida Gulf Coast, a bibliography... more For researchers interested in the long, ancient history on the Florida Gulf Coast, a bibliography of archaeological research at 8So2, Historic Spanish Point also known as the Palmer Site

I entered the study of the 18th-19th century Cuban Fishing Rancho Industry of the Florida Gulf Co... more I entered the study of the 18th-19th century Cuban Fishing Rancho Industry of the Florida Gulf Coast from maroon archaeology. There is increasing interest in the history and heritage of this era and its people. This March 2022 bibliography of published works and other materials plus some graphics represents much of the scholarship. If this list proves useful for your research, I will appreciate acknowledgement

A 2016 bibliography focuses on the history and materiality for maroons in Florida during 1770s-18... more A 2016 bibliography focuses on the history and materiality for maroons in Florida during 1770s-1821 but including other relevant scholarship. Created for the 2015-16 Tragedy and Survival: Bicentennial of the Southward Movement of Black Seminoles on Florida’s Gulf Coast

After completion of my dissertation employing historical archaeology for an archaeology of the Ot... more After completion of my dissertation employing historical archaeology for an archaeology of the Ottoman Empire, I kept up a list of publications intersecting with Ottoman archaeology. The references are to archaeological publications or publications strongly related to anthropological material culture/settlement pattern studies.

conference presentation, 2025

presented at a panel for the Academic Engagement Network, these are my observations on how the ex... more presented at a panel for the Academic Engagement Network, these are my observations on how the explicit transformation of New College of Florida, starting in January 2023, played out on campus and specifically in terms of being a practicing Jew at the College. Making this available for those interested in the paradoxes, which are not resolved in this brief autoethnography

Society for American Archaeology annual meeting, 2023

Nearly erased from history, the early 19 th-century marronage of Angola on the Manatee River is n... more Nearly erased from history, the early 19 th-century marronage of Angola on the Manatee River is now established as part of the Network to Freedom in Florida. Recent excavations provide a view of daily life for the freedom-seeking people. Allied with British filibusters, connected to Seminole peoples in the Florida interior and Cuban fishing ranchos along the Gulf Coast, and building a haven of freedom, Angola may have included more than seven hundred people. The Manatee River marronage was part of the struggle against slavery that stretched from Prospect Bluff to Andros Island during the early 19th century. Material remains support situating the maroons in the crosscurrents of the Atlantic world. Among the findings from 2020 excavations by the Manatee Mineral Spring, two small objects buried in separate small pits are interpreted as ritual belongings. This paper provides an overview of the decade-long community-based research, the excavations and an overview of its findings, and an assessment of the objects. The research has been collaborative, working with descendants and local communities to connect past and present as heritage.

Society for Historical Archaeology Annual Meeting, 2023

People experience historic sites as part of landscapes through environmental and cultural aspects... more People experience historic sites as part of landscapes through environmental and cultural aspects of heritage. This presentation offers the initial steps toward an approach for coastal sites on the Florida Gulf Coast at multiple spatial and temporal scales using techniques from archaeology, environmental studies, and biology. At the broadest scales, the interdisciplinary team reconstructs the distribution of coastal heritage locations from the decades preceding human-caused sea-level rise to the present. At finer levels of temporal and spatial resolution, the research documents topography, vegetation, and coastal changes. At the finest scales, studies of microorganisms that inhabit historic and archaeological sites in coastal Florida are inventoried. Integrating those scales through community-based archaeology offers the social meanings for coastal heritage under threat of rising sea levels, both to motivate actions to preserve the past and prepare the public for the coming landscape transformations.

Tidally United Summit V, 2021

Following the lead of the Seminole Tribe of Florida in integrating what is separately known as cu... more Following the lead of the Seminole Tribe of Florida in integrating what is separately known as cultural and natural resources, faculty at New College of Florida partnered with Marie Selby Botanical Gardens and De Soto National Memorial for a pilot project in January 2021 to address the implications of rising sea levels across Sarasota/Manatee, Florida. The coastal region is between Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor, and it is the in-between aspect that makes for challenges and opportunities. Building from Tidally United’s 2018 summit in Sarasota, the larger community-based initiative is experimenting with collaborations to advance material preservation in the region and beyond.

American Anthropology Association annual meeting, 2019

Three concurrent dynamics provide a lens to recognize the predicaments for African American herit... more Three concurrent dynamics provide a lens to recognize the predicaments for African American heritage in the coastal Florida city of Sarasota: a recent heritage vitalization, gentrification, and climate change. In the 2010s, the City of Sarasota funded a heritage program to redeem decades of official erasure of Black history. The excitement from the oral histories facilitated a heritage vitalization as elders recall the struggles and successes of the 20 th century and a talented community scholar presented the memories to eager audiences, first at lectures and now at tours that highlight past and present. The heritage program grew as parts of neighborhoods were bulldozed and replaced through gentrification that felt threatening all the historic areas of Black life. As a heritage trail, new restaurants, and a cultural history museum are moving forward, climate change lurks over the coast, with rising sea levels and storm surge slowly being recognized as a threat, differentially impacting those African-American neighborhoods. Heritage as resilience incorporating the intangible offers opportunities; heritage as social action is a productive avenue for a community recognizing its past as its neighborhoods are being challenged by a future of sea level rise on the Florida coast.

Archaeological excavations and presentations are memory-work, offering tactile and visual materia... more Archaeological excavations and presentations are memory-work, offering tactile and visual materials for consideration of the past. In a coastal Florida city, growing rapidly through in-migration of retirees and service industry employment opportunities, there are few aware or concerned over history. Yet the past haunts the Florida Gulf Coast and the expanding interest in heritage includes competitions among historians and archaeologists, residents and tourists, and development interests and politics. Most of the success goes into using heritage to market place but communities, particularly minority groups, recognize the positive potential for commemorating the past, in order to ensure their history has a future. And the contest over the past is ongoing. The swirl of hidden histories and memories are explored for Sarasota, Florida, in terms of race, community, and heritage. These dynamics might presage developments across the USA as American memory becomes great again.

Anniversaries matter. They set an annual occurrence for remembering, to facilitate collective com... more Anniversaries matter. They set an annual occurrence for remembering, to facilitate collective commemoration. Tragedy and Survival is a digital archaeology program creating virtual worlds for the maroon landscapes of the Apalachicola River and the Manatee River. Two hundred years ago, in July 1816, the fort at Prospect Bluff was destroyed and hundreds killed. But survivors fled south. The history for these freedom-seeking people in Second Spanish Florida is not well known. The virtual worlds allow viewers to walk the reconstructed landscape for the community known as the Negro Fort, on the Apalachicola River, and Angola on the Manatee River.

For talented storytellers , the past can be conjured up and presented through thrilling narrative... more For talented storytellers , the past can be conjured up and presented through thrilling narrative arcs and vivid imagery. The result can make the listener feel like they are in an ancient place. But the audience listens, with only awe as the result. With expanding digital technologies, the archaeological past can be animated. Students can immerse themselves in reconstructed buildings and landscapes and move through ancient places, examine material culture from multiple angles, and even engage in games that educate on the lives of past peoples. The active learning facilitates innovative interpretations even while stressing the significance of rigorous detail-oriented analysis of archaeological and archival/ethnographic data. Examples come from programs for primary school aged children based on historical archaeology projects on Florida's Gulf Coast. The digital presentations for the Cuban fishing rancho industry and early nineteen-century marronage offer a past in a part of Florida often assumed to have little or no history. The goal of these digital avenues meets the ethic of communicate archaeological interpretations of the past, introducing children and adults to a cosmopolitan past.

Recent archaeological finds on the south bank of the Manatee River, one of the four rivers that e... more Recent archaeological finds on the south bank of the Manatee River, one of the four rivers that enter Tampa Bay on Florida’s Gulf Coast, include traces of an early 19th century maroon community. Angola was part of a sequence of havens from slavery in Second Spanish period (1783-1821) Florida. Starting with the construction of a fort on the Apalachicola River, maroons, self-emancipated slaves, and Native Americans with British filibuster support, organized in the fight against slavery. A US Navy attack on the fort led to refugees fleeing southward to the Suwanee River; an 1818 military attack led to another falling back to Tampa Bay. Archaeological and ethno-historical insights point to a British identification for the people whose identities are known, fluidly, as free blacks, self-emancipated slaves, African Seminoles, maroons, and Black Seminoles. The British mass produced ceramics, excavated during a long-term public anthropology program, provide a new facet for understand the dynamic lives of these freedom-seeking peoples. The maroon community, recovered from archival sources as Angola, was destroyed in 1821, with survivors fleeing inland or to Andros Island in the Bahamas where their descendants still live today.

Heritage management encompasses a tremendous range of activities and concerns, including stewards... more Heritage management encompasses a tremendous range of activities and concerns, including stewardship of the archaeological record. The ethical responsibilities of conservation and protection require recognition of the competing interests involved in the property ownership. This paper reflects on the implications of the dynamics involved in a recent case in Florida. A location containing a significant early 19th century archaeological record became caught up in legal battles. The dynamic is part of a larger trend that some anthropologists have labeled as lawfare, a double-edged sword used by the traditionally oppressed but also by the powerful.

The 2000 volume “A Historical Archaeology of the Ottoman Empire: Breaking New Ground” highlighted... more The 2000 volume “A Historical Archaeology of the Ottoman Empire: Breaking New Ground” highlighted the challenges of applying the methods and theories from historical archaeology to the eastern Mediterranean, and situated the archaeological study of the Ottoman Empire in global perspective. Starting with exposing the nationalist dynamics that obscured the archaeological finds from the recent past, research quickly expanded to analysis of global commodities, archaeologies of colonialism and capitalism, landscape studies, and architectural histories. Reviewing the pathways to Ottoman Archaeology, this presentation will explore questions that count for the region and for historical archaeology in global perspective. For the session at the annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology: Questions that will Count in the Future: Global Perspectives on Historical Archaeology, organized by Stephen A. Mrozowski

In 1990, historian Canter Brown, Jr., published an account of an escape slave community in southe... more In 1990, historian Canter Brown, Jr., published an account of an escape slave community in southern Tampa Bay, a community destroyed in 1821 called Angola. In 2004, an interdisciplinary research team began Looking for Angola with public outreach. Educational programs, ethnographic research, and archival investigations led to archaeological excavations. Maroon communities, by their nature, are difficult to locate with precision. This paper describes the debates over the existence of Angola, its location, and the nature of the community. The successful results of archaeological investigations on the Manatee River suggest the first traces of the haven for freedom have been found.

Public archaeology in Florida has been at the forefront of increasing participation in historic p... more Public archaeology in Florida has been at the forefront of increasing participation in historic preservation and archaeology. Building on the New College Public Archaeology Lab's educational program for elementary schoolchildren, this paper reports on a video game meant to engage and educate that target audience. The focus is the rancho fishing industry of 19 th century west Florida. Children compete in the enterprise that connected Cuba and Sarasota Bay, a history not well-known to local residents. By focusing on the materiality and geography for the fishing industry, video games offer another avenue for the public archaeology of southwest Florida.

As the title indicates, this paper focuses on concepts and the tensions between them. I am wrestl... more As the title indicates, this paper focuses on concepts and the tensions between them. I am wrestling with the concepts for an ongoing project.

PowerPoint deck for an October 2022 talk at the University of Florida's Judaica Library of the Ge... more PowerPoint deck for an October 2022 talk at the University of Florida's Judaica Library of the George A. Smathers Libraries for a workshop titled Visual Explorations of Jewish Histories in Florida Through Data Science: A First Planning Session. The presentation offers an overview of the history and current histories of Jews in Florida and suggestions from historical archaeology on how to use the archives at the Smathers Library for visualization of Jewish Florida through the centuries

From Legend to History: Archaeology of the Underground Railroad in Our Backyard, 2022

"From Legend to History: Archaeology of the Underground Railroad in Our Backyard" is a November 2... more "From Legend to History: Archaeology of the Underground Railroad in Our Backyard" is a November 2021 to February 2022 exhibit at the Community Gallery of the Ringling Museum of Art, in Sarasota, Florida. The powerpoint presentation on January 24, 2022, introduced the research and history for the early 19th-century maroon community of Angola on the Manatee River focused on the exhibited materials

In the third part of 2021 Monuments, Markers, and Memory Symposium titled Recovery: Critical Appr... more In the third part of 2021 Monuments, Markers, and Memory Symposium titled Recovery: Critical Approaches to Heritage, Monuments and Memory in the Academy, this presentation focused on the regional heritage around the Judah P. Benjamin Confederate Monument at the Gamble Plantation State Historic Park. Radical openness offers an alterative to the present commemoration

The presentation for the Sarasota/Manatee chapter of the Florida Planning and Zoning Association ... more The presentation for the Sarasota/Manatee chapter of the Florida Planning and Zoning Association (FPZA) discusses the process of research and the archival and archaeological evidence for Angola on the Manatee River, an early 19th century maroon community. Maroons, also known as self-emancipated people of African heritage or Black Seminoles, hid from slave raiders making locating evidence of their lives challenging. The success of a public anthropology program that located material traces of the haven for liberty brings out the important history beneath the surface across Manatee and Sarasota counties. Concerns and suggestions for preserving the archaeological history for these freedom-seeking people concludes the slide-illustrated talk.

For FZPA the presentation contribute to the understanding of planning relates issues by going beyond visible historic structures and explaining the significance of archaeological sites as a challenge and a significant question when material traces are the only evidence for inspiring heritage left for the present. This presentation focuses on an early 19th century history for a history of freedom-seeking people who created hamlets across the region between the Manatee River and Sarasota Bay. Connecting the material traces of the community to the archival record and to contemporary people through public performances is meant to suggest new reasons for integrating the management of the archaeological record into planning process.

Public presentation for the dedication of a heritage interpretation panel at Phillippi Estate (ad... more Public presentation for the dedication of a heritage interpretation panel at Phillippi Estate (adding to a collection unveiled in November 2016) on the Archaic period at the property

Powerpoint for the 2017 Florida Council for History Education conference in Sarasota, Florida, co... more Powerpoint for the 2017 Florida Council for History Education conference in Sarasota, Florida, covering the resistance to slavery, the history of freedom-seeking people in Spanish la Florida including Fort Mosé, Prospect Bluff, Suwanee, and Angola, and concluding with educational materials for use by schoolchildren, with links to
Looking for Angola Newspaper in Education tabloids Virtual Worlds for the Maroon Landscapes of Prospect Bluff and Angola, and Sarasota Bay Rancho Video Games - all for free downloads

Remarks for Dedication of the Heritage Interpretation Signs for Archaeology and the Archaeologic... more Remarks for Dedication of the Heritage Interpretation Signs for
Archaeology and the Archaeological Eras at Phillippi Estate Park, November 12, 2106

Time Sifters Archaeology Society Newsletter, 2024

I write this short essay with unabashed idealism, focused on a part of the world that has receive... more I write this short essay with unabashed idealism, focused on a part of the world that has received tremendous archaeological attention and has suffered soul-crushing cycles of violence and conflict, heightened by the horror of October 7th when thousands of Hamas (the Islamic Resistance Movement) militants invaded Israel to kill, rape, burn, and kidnap civilians and the too many months of war, civilian displacement, and massive casualties in Gaza. Yet, as an archaeologist I can state that what is occurring is not an eternal conflict, not an intractable battle.

Where I Stand, 2024

A contribution to an online essay project created to commemorate one year since the October 7 mas... more A contribution to an online essay project created to commemorate one year since the October 7 massacre. Launching on the one-year anniversary of this brutal assault on Israel and the Jewish people, the project features faculty reflections on October 7 and its aftermath on U.S. campuses and the American academy.

The Jewish News, 2024

Turning research into family into heritage: the example is personal, archival research into the m... more Turning research into family into heritage: the example is personal, archival research into the murder of my great-grandparents

Research Report, 2024

This report fulfills the request to create a multiethnic, multinational history of south Tampa Ba... more This report fulfills the request to create a multiethnic, multinational history of south Tampa Bay for National Park Service staff to incorporate the history of Africans and African Americans in their presentations. This report assists the De Soto National Memorial Interpretive Division to develop material to interpret the decades of Angola on the Manatee River for the park. The information comes from the multiple historical and archaeological projects and publications on the community of self-liberated formerly enslaved individuals and their descendants who settled on the Manatee River. The goal is for visitors to the park to learn about the multiracial Cuban fishing ranchos and the communities of free people of African heritage that left an imprint, however ephemeral, on De Soto National Memorial property and nearby regions.

New College Public Archaeology Lab Newsletter, 2023

An image-based annual newsletter for the New College Public Archaeology Lab and its programs duri... more An image-based annual newsletter for the New College Public Archaeology Lab and its programs during academic year 2022-23, a time of transitions

New College Public Archaeology Lab Research Report #6, 2021

The archaeological report for the January 2020 excavations by the Manatee Mineral Spring in Brade... more The archaeological report for the January 2020 excavations by the Manatee Mineral Spring in Bradenton, Florida, prepared for Reflections of Manatee, Inc. The findings include the early 19th century maroon community of Angola on the Manatee River and the Village of Manatee

Report on the Public Anthropology Program Looking for Angola As an Update to 8Ma103, 2014

Report for Reflections of Manatee, Inc. on file with the Florida Master Site Files delineating hi... more Report for Reflections of Manatee, Inc. on file with the Florida Master Site Files delineating historical archaeological and public outreach in the research on an early 19th-century maroon community on the Manatee River, Florida, known as Angola. The report focuses on 2004 to 2014 and makes the argument for material traces of Angola by the Manatee Mineral Spring. An update on the successful research is available as Uzi Baram 2021 "Recovering History by the Manatee Mineral Spring, Bradenton, Florida: Excavations and Laboratory Analysis" Report Prepared for Reflections of Manatee, Inc. - available at the Florida Master Site Files and https://ncf.academia.edu/UziBaram

New College Public Archaeology Lab Research Series #5, 2019

The Tidally United Summit, held in Sarasota in August 2018, focused on heritage and rising sea le... more The Tidally United Summit, held in Sarasota in August 2018, focused on heritage and rising sea levels. This report, part of the New College Public Archaeology research series, offers the background for rising sea levels in southwest Florida and provides lessons from archaeology to increase community resilience in Florida for life in the Anthropocene. An appendix describes the planning, context, and details for the Summit.

A research design for an archaeology of early 20th century African American neighborhoodes to com... more A research design for an archaeology of early 20th century African American neighborhoodes to complement the heritage initiative for Newtown, Sarasota, Florida

In the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, the shock of felled trees, loss of power for days on end, and... more In the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, the shock of felled trees, loss of power for days on end, and the luck of Sarasota escaping a much worse fate led to lots of residents imagining that the region will escape the intensity of climate change, a process that is creating stronger storms at a time when our coasts have high density of settlements. The amnesia is imagined via a myth about Sarasota.

From 2014-2016, the Community Heritage Awareness and Management Program at Phillippi Estate Park ... more From 2014-2016, the Community Heritage Awareness and Management Program at Phillippi Estate Park in Sarasota, Florida, sought to raise the profile of the archaeological history for the county-owned property on the south side of Phillippi Creek. The report contains the materials associated with the program, from the initial planning through excavations and analysis to public outreach and conclusions.

A brief exploration of theming in and for archaeology, followed by an example of a theme for an u... more A brief exploration of theming in and for archaeology, followed by an example of a theme for an upcoming heritage interpretation project at Phillippi Estate Park, a Sarasota County Park.

An essay for Time Sifters Archaeological Society Newsletter offering a nuanced terminology shift ... more An essay for Time Sifters Archaeological Society Newsletter offering a nuanced terminology shift for public archaeology and advocating greater engagement with a community-based organization in Sarasota, Florida.

A short essay on provenience focused on a 1967 recover of an African-inspired drum in the Tampa B... more A short essay on provenience focused on a 1967 recover of an African-inspired drum in the Tampa Bay region.

Time Sifters Archaeological Society Newsletter, Mar 2014

Driving down Manatee Avenue (State Road 64), it is easy to assume all is recent. Yet going from H... more Driving down Manatee Avenue (State Road 64), it is easy to assume all is recent. Yet going from Holmes Beach on Anna Maria Island eastward through Bradenton and then across the Braden River and on to Arcadia, the road passes impressive history, if one knows to look.

Time Sifters Archaeological Society Newsletter, Jan 2014

Time Sifters Archaeological Society Newsletter, Dec 2013

Time Sifters Archaeological Society Newsletter, Oct 2013

Time Sifters Archaeological Society Newsletter, Sep 2013

Poster Presentation for annual meeting of the Florida Anthropological Society, 2023

Uzi Baram and Laura Dean Archaeology and its findings continue to be of intense public interest ... more Uzi Baram and Laura Dean

Archaeology and its findings continue to be of intense public interest as seen in media coverage, public attendance at archaeology presentations, visitations to museums and virtual exhibits, and attention given to current projects at local archaeological and historical sites. Archaeologists have developed both site specific and statewide presentations; missing has been regional representations, for instance there was no readily accessible information for the region between Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor. The Virtual Guided Tour fills that gap: an interactive, engaging website to facilitate easy access to the insights and information from archaeology for the general public.

Florida Anthropology Society annual meeting, 2021

of histories by the Manatee Mineral Spring. The area is on the Network to Freedom for the early 1... more of histories by the Manatee Mineral Spring. The area is on the Network to Freedom for the early 19th-century maroon community on Angola on the Manatee River and is the founding location for the 1840s Village of Manatee, now the eastern part of Bradenton. A long-term public anthropology program facilitated the archaeology that is revealing the daily lives of the maroons and the later inhabitants by the spring. Focusing on stratigraphy and selected belongings, the poster offers a view of the archaeology of the community-based program.

Florida Anthropological Society annual conference, 2019

The centennial for the Edson Keith Mansion at Phillippi Estate Park, a Sarasota County-owned prop... more The centennial for the Edson Keith Mansion at Phillippi Estate Park, a Sarasota County-owned property, ignited a heritage interpretation program to represent all the histories for the public. The Community Heritage Management Program (CHAMP), a partnership between the New College Public Archaeology Lab Director and the Sarasota County Archaeologist, included ethnographic research, excavations, creation of heritage interpretation signs, and public programming. The poster includes the findings for the Manasota-period Prodie Midden (8So617) and an assessment of the 2014-2017 heritage program in terms of trusting in the public and a historical example of trust situated for the public.

The New College Public Archaeology Lab program in regional heritage has expanded undergraduate ex... more The New College Public Archaeology Lab program in regional heritage has expanded undergraduate experiential learning from excavations and laboratory analysis to community service learning with engagement with the public and diverse communities. Archaeology focuses research on the past but the public aspect situates the studies in the context of the present, with excavations and preservation requiring a critical perspective on contemporary social concerns. Recognizing the past can be empowering for subordinated communities, heritage interpretation, built on the archaeological research, offers undergraduates opportunities to grapple with community identities, contemporary politics, and commemoration.

The New College Public Archaeology Lab endeavors to stimulate an interest in local history and he... more The New College Public Archaeology Lab endeavors to stimulate an interest in local history and heritage among the general
public while promoting an awareness of cultural resources and historic preservation. As public archaeology across the Sarasota
Bay watershed and Manatee River, the NCPAL programs focus on engaging residents and visitors through a variety of methods, which range from educational programs and demonstrations of archaeological practices to historic preservation and archaeological excavations. Each program or project is a partnership or collaboration that NCPAL undertakes to serve multiple goals such as supporting research on little understood aspects of the area’s past, providing resources to underserved communities to assist with preservation initiatives, sharing knowledge to encourage support for archaeological stewardship, and providing opportunities for undergraduates to engage in the process of public archaeology. This poster showcases examples of current projects including Looking for Angola; the Survey of the Galilee Cemetery: Community, Race, and Commemoration; and the Coastal Peoples of 19th century Sarasota Pass: Teaching Archaeology and the Environment for
Elementary Schoolchildren.

Time Sifters Archaeology Society lecture series, 2018

Presentation to Time Sifters Archaeology Society in May 2018: The time to warn about climate ... more Presentation to Time Sifters Archaeology Society in May 2018: The time to warn about climate change is over. New weather patterns, larger storms, and rising sea levels are challenging communities and transforming conventional thinking. Archaeologists have offered the long-term perspective on human adaptation, and maladaptations to environmental changes; more recently archaeologists are contributing insights for the present generation to envision our possible futures. This presentation will offer examples of, and lessons for, community resilience in the Anthropocene to rising sea levels. The slide-illustrated lecture will be global in scope, but with one of the most endangered places for rising sea levels being Florida, we will focus on insights from Florida archaeology.

Time Sifters Archaeology Society lecture series, 2018

In Y. M. Rowan and U. Baram (eds.) Marketing Heritage: Archaeology and the Consumption of the Past, pp. 3-23, 2004

Near Eastern Archaeology, 2002

Book Review

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Archaeological Journal, 2015

The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with p... more The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &

Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, 2014

Encyclopedia of Archaeology, 2008