Tacachale: Essays on the Indians of Florida and Southeastern Georgia during the Historic Period

by Jerald T. Milanich (Editor), Samuel Proctor (Editor)

"Well researched and well written, and with a skillful combination of the techniques of ethnohistory and archaeology. . . . Though ten separate authors were involved in this book, one detects no unevenness in the presentations."— American Indian Quarterly

"An outstanding book.  The reader is brought up to date concerning recent research on such tribes as the Calusas, Tocobagas, Western Timucua, Guales, and early Seminoles."— Tampa Bay History

"A scholarly intertwining of history, ethnography, and archaeology."— Choice

"A splendid [volume] that reflects both scholarship and good writing."— Georgia Librarian

Tacachale —a Timucuan word that means "to light a new fire"—refers to an Indian ritual that the Timucuans used to minimize impending change and maintain their way of life.  In these essays it symbolizes the efforts of the aborigines of Florida and southeastern Georgia to deal with the destruction of their cultures during the period of European colonization.

Genres: History

228 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Jerald T. Milanich is an American anthropologist and archaeologist, specializing in Native American culture in Florida. He is Curator Emeritus of Archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida in Gainesville; Adjunct Professor, Department of Anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Florida; and Adjunct Professor, Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida. Milanich holds a Ph.D in anthropology from the University of Florida.

Milanich has won several awards for his books. Milanich won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Florida Archaeological Council in 2005 and the Dorothy Dodd Lifetime Achievement Award from the Florida Historical Society in 2013. He was inducted as a Fellow into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2010.

Milanich's research interests include Eastern United States archeology, pre-Columbian Southeastern U.S. native peoples, and colonial period native American-European/Anglo relations in the America. In May 1987 he was cited in a New York Times article:

Milanich is married to anthropologist Maxine Margolis, also a professor at the University of Florida. They are the parents of historian Nara Milanich, who teaches at Columbia University.

Reviews

[Brian Beatty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although a thorough study of native peoples of FL, the essays were a bit disjunct and just uneven. I may have been spoiled by recently reading a more complete history of the Seminoles