Who Manages Floridas Underwater Archaeological Sites?
Florida’s Department of State, Office of Cultural and Historical Programs includes the Bureau of Archaeological Research which employs a State Underwater Archaeologist and several assistants. Personnel from this office routinely work with the public, the sport diving community, universities, colleges, and museums to examine and interpret underwater sites. Working with groups of volunteer divers, they have conducted surveys and excavations on both prehistoric and historic sites located offshore and in rivers and sinkholes – from submerged Native American middens (garbage dumps) and habitation sites to the remains of sunken steamboats and schooners. Since Florida has one of the longest continuous coastlines in the country, not to mention its river and cavern systems, the range of underwater archaeological sites is broad and covers thousands of years. Since the advent of scuba diving in the 1950s, many sites have been discovered by sport divers and amateur archaeologists; but there are hu
