"Signal From Shore: The Timucuan" by Richard Weaver

Along Marine Street in front of the St. Augustine Art Association, you’ll find Richard Weaver’s sculpture of a Native American boy. The bronze statue is placed on a pedestal within a sunken garden. The realistic-looking child stretches out both arms, creating the shape of a cross or cruciform.

He holds a palm frond in his left hand, signaling toward the sea. His shoulder-length hair is adorned with feathers and he wears a shell necklace. Animal pelts are wrapped around the boy’s shoulders and waist, revealing his slender body. A hunting knife is attached at the hip. The figure stands on a small shell mound surrounded by two fish swimming in suspended animation.

HISTORY

More than 14,000 years ago, the first descendants of the people who crossed the land bridge from Siberia to Alaska arrived in Florida. When Europeans first landed on the peninsula, some 200,000 natives were living in groups and villages around Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia. They spoke the same language and were collectively known as Timucuans (Tim-oo´-kwahns).

Early illustrations show the natives as tall, muscular warriors battling giants, fierce alligators, and other exotic creatures. But historians and archaeologists have pieced together a more believable picture. The Timucuans lived in round palm-thatched huts.  They were hunter-gatherers who fished with nets and spears and grew corn. They dressed in deerskins and decorated their bodies with tattoos and ornaments. They believed in omens and pract ... view more »

Collection: Touch STA

Medium type: Cast Bronze

Date created: 2016

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