The Alleged University of West Florida Luna Colony Settlement Discovery in Pensacola: A Cross-Section of Opinions
by Caleb Curren
Contact Archeology Inc.
August 2017
(archeologyink.com … an online Research and Education Journal, August 2017)
The personal opinions presented here are powerful indictments against the premature University of West Florida (UWF) claim of the discovery of the Luna Colony. The following quotes are from people responding to rebuttals from Contact Archeology Inc. relative to that UWF Luna Colony claim.
(Pensacola Businessman)
Bold, Brave, Brash … and Accurate. I’m proud of you for challenging the ivory tower and politely but firmly asking for a response. Looking forward to hearing if they are brave enough to respond.
(UWF Graduate)
You really hammered it home … great expose’ … well done!
(Retired UWF Faculty Member)
The challenge presented is what should happen in academia. I’m grateful to the researchers, even though it takes wind out of the sails of those making the claims (UWF).
(Senior Alabama Archeologist)
You are certainly making great points. I am beginning to doubt the UWF claim of the Luna Colony.
(Senior Alabama Archeologist)
It looks like UWF is not finding 16th-Century Spanish features or even Native features either.
(Pensacola Businessman)
UWF is embarrassing themselves over this Luna Colony issue.
(Pensacola Businesswoman)
UWF should publically retract their (Luna Colony) claim. Not to do so is ethically wrong.
(Geotechnical Engineer)
If I had been in charge of the De Luna landing project, I wouldn’t have put it on Emanuel Point … it is not rea-sonable to me that Emanuel Point had fresh water in any substantial quantity (now or in the 16th-Century). Even if they could’ve kept up with personal consumption by transporting water a mile or more, no way they could’ve kept animals watered.
(Pensacola Businesswoman)
To make claims that are unsubstantiated by solid archeological evidence regarding the “confirmed” discovery of the Luna Colony is clearly egregious and unethical. The UWF researchers have jumped the gun by going public with their declarations. UWF needs to address the concerns laid forth (by Contact Archeology Inc.).
(Pensacola Artist)
It seems so obvious to me that there are so many things lacking in the UWF report that it is ludicrous to make such a positive claim. The claim should be refuted world wide and the search continued for the colony’s real beginnings.
(A Disappointed Citizen)
I agree that a rigorous scientific method must be employed in such a venture. I hope that the university finds the cemetery, evidence of structures, garbage pits, and any feature showing that the location once carried a large colony of Spanish colonists. At this juncture, I’m disappointed.
(Computer Programmer Manager)
How can a large institution with an inherent responsibility to truth abandon the principals of the scientific method? … I read that (UWF) press release and it is clear that hype has been crafted, packaged, for-matted, and presented to purposely dupe anyone without disciplined reason …That’s fine and dandy for entertainment and ratings, but when we abandon truth in our institutions we are committing treason to humanity.
(Spanish and French Historian and Past UWF Colonial Architectural Advisor)
Based on prior archeological testing and historical research at the Emanuel Point Site, I personally advised the University of West Florida (UWF) to conduct more archeological research to find irrefutable evidence of the Luna Colony site before they publicly claimed their “new discovery” to be the Luna Colony. UWF did not listen. They chose sensationalism and personal aggrandizement over academic research protocols. Such
actions have potentially put at risk the reputation of the University of West Florida and the academic
credentials of the graduates of that institution.
Summation
The Emanuel Point Site (8Es1) on Pensacola Bay may eventually be proven to be the site of the Luna Colony. Ironically, that is beside the point. The real issue is that the University of West Florida proclaimed to the world that they had absolutely found the Luna Colony site based on a double handful of Spanish pottery sherds and five glass trade beads. A proclamation such as that defies scientific procedures of hypothesis testing and con-veys to UWF students and the public the wrong message concerning archeological investigations. Develop-mental hypothesis testing is the core of any science. Flagrant sensationalism through news media is not.
Over a year and a half after the initial UWF media blitz, numerous excavations by the University of West Flor-ida at the alleged Luna Colony site have produced no substantially conclusive archeological evidence of Span-ish burials, structures, refuse pits, or firehearths. The 16th-Century Spanish artifacts found at the site are in mixed context with Native artifacts and could have easily come from Native peoples obtaining the artifacts by trade with Spaniards or salvage from the shipwrecks just offshore from their village.
The quoted statements presented here from concerned citizens demonstrate the fact that members of the public are questioning the decision by the University of West Florida to issue a declaration, with absolute certainty, that they found the Luna Colony in Pensacola before procedural archeological testing was performed.
- Article
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(archeologyink.com … an online Research and Education Journal, August 2017)
The personal opinions presented here are powerful indictments against the premature University of West Florida (UWF) claim of the discovery of the Luna Colony. The following quotes are from people responding to rebuttals from Contact Archeology Inc. relative to that UWF Luna Colony claim.
(Pensacola Businessman)
Bold, Brave, Brash … and Accurate. I’m proud of you for challenging the ivory tower and politely but firmly asking for a response. Looking forward to hearing if they are brave enough to respond.
(UWF Graduate)
You really hammered it home … great expose’ … well done!
(Retired UWF Faculty Member)
The challenge presented is what should happen in academia. I’m grateful to the researchers, even though it takes wind out of the sails of those making the claims (UWF).
(Senior Alabama Archeologist)
You are certainly making great points. I am beginning to doubt the UWF claim of the Luna Colony.
(Senior Alabama Archeologist)
It looks like UWF is not finding 16th-Century Spanish features or even Native features either.
(Pensacola Businessman)
UWF is embarrassing themselves over this Luna Colony issue.
(Pensacola Businesswoman)
UWF should publically retract their (Luna Colony) claim. Not to do so is ethically wrong.
(Geotechnical Engineer)
If I had been in charge of the De Luna landing project, I wouldn’t have put it on Emanuel Point … it is not rea-sonable to me that Emanuel Point had fresh water in any substantial quantity (now or in the 16th-Century). Even if they could’ve kept up with personal consumption by transporting water a mile or more, no way they could’ve kept animals watered.
(Pensacola Businesswoman)
To make claims that are unsubstantiated by solid archeological evidence regarding the “confirmed” discovery of the Luna Colony is clearly egregious and unethical. The UWF researchers have jumped the gun by going public with their declarations. UWF needs to address the concerns laid forth (by Contact Archeology Inc.).
(Pensacola Artist)
It seems so obvious to me that there are so many things lacking in the UWF report that it is ludicrous to make such a positive claim. The claim should be refuted world wide and the search continued for the colony’s real beginnings.
(A Disappointed Citizen)
I agree that a rigorous scientific method must be employed in such a venture. I hope that the university finds the cemetery, evidence of structures, garbage pits, and any feature showing that the location once carried a large colony of Spanish colonists. At this juncture, I’m disappointed.
(Computer Programmer Manager)
How can a large institution with an inherent responsibility to truth abandon the principals of the scientific method? … I read that (UWF) press release and it is clear that hype has been crafted, packaged, for-matted, and presented to purposely dupe anyone without disciplined reason …That’s fine and dandy for entertainment and ratings, but when we abandon truth in our institutions we are committing treason to humanity.
(Spanish and French Historian and Past UWF Colonial Architectural Advisor)
Based on prior archeological testing and historical research at the Emanuel Point Site, I personally advised the University of West Florida (UWF) to conduct more archeological research to find irrefutable evidence of the Luna Colony site before they publicly claimed their “new discovery” to be the Luna Colony. UWF did not listen. They chose sensationalism and personal aggrandizement over academic research protocols. Such
actions have potentially put at risk the reputation of the University of West Florida and the academic
credentials of the graduates of that institution.Summation
The Emanuel Point Site (8Es1) on Pensacola Bay may eventually be proven to be the site of the Luna Colony. Ironically, that is beside the point. The real issue is that the University of West Florida proclaimed to the world that they had absolutely found the Luna Colony site based on a double handful of Spanish pottery sherds and five glass trade beads. A proclamation such as that defies scientific procedures of hypothesis testing and con-veys to UWF students and the public the wrong message concerning archeological investigations. Develop-mental hypothesis testing is the core of any science. Flagrant sensationalism through news media is not.
Over a year and a half after the initial UWF media blitz, numerous excavations by the University of West Flor-ida at the alleged Luna Colony site have produced no substantially conclusive archeological evidence of Span-ish burials, structures, refuse pits, or firehearths. The 16th-Century Spanish artifacts found at the site are in mixed context with Native artifacts and could have easily come from Native peoples obtaining the artifacts by trade with Spaniards or salvage from the shipwrecks just offshore from their village.
The quoted statements presented here from concerned citizens demonstrate the fact that members of the public are questioning the decision by the University of West Florida to issue a declaration, with absolute certainty, that they found the Luna Colony in Pensacola before procedural archeological testing was performed.
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