October 9, 2025: Dr. Morgan Smith

Findings from Florida: Perspectives on Submerged Landscape Research from the Epicenter of the Discipline in North America
Dr. Morgan F. Smith, UC Foundation Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga

Zoom registration link: https://tinyurl.com/228vfd4s
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1128614209211051/

The State of Florida hosts the densest recorded concentration of submerged Indigenous archaeological sites in North America, possibly the world. These resources range from sites that contribute to the understanding of the peopling of the Western Hemisphere, the extinction and extirpation of megafauna at the end of the Pleistocene, adaptations to climate change before, during, and after the Younger Dryas, human response to sea level rise, adaptation to coastal resources, funerary rituals, and Indigenous watercraft. Further, these sites often are repositories of paleontological, geological, and biological data that expand understanding of climate trends in the Eastern United States and Circum-Gulf region. This presentation will briefly summarize Florida’s role in the establishment of submerged landscape studies in North America. Then, discussion will ensue over the state of the art of Florida-based underwater archaeological research, highlighting recent and ongoing studies of submerged landscapes both inland and offshore. Last, the presentation will describe current efforts to reevaluate and shape policy on submerged landscapes studies in the Gulf of Mexico over the next decade and beyond.

Morgan F. Smith is a UC Foundation Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, where he directs the Geoarchaeology and Submerged Landscapes Laboratory. He is a 6th generation Floridian and grew up in Tallahassee, FL. He received his PhD from Texas A&M University, where he studied in the Center for the Study of the First Americans.