Preserved Paleoindian Site Potential and Regional Geological Patterns in Florida's Karst Rivers

Summary

Hundreds of Paleoindian artifacts have been found in northern Florida, mostly by avocational archaeologists and collectors. Many archaeologists have noted the correlation between Paleoindian artifact locations and known chert outcrops. Further, many of these finds were recovered from Florida streams by SCUBA divers, often in displaced contexts or in areas with no sediment. Extensive research in portions of the Aucilla River have allowed archaeologists to arrive at some understanding of site formation processes and Paleoindian activities in that river. This research was extended into other portions of this discontinuous karst stream system and five other Florida rivers to determine if local trends could be used to understand regional site formation processes and Paleoindian site potential in other nearby systems. To this end, we conducted targeted sonar and diver surveys of portions of rivers known for Paleoindian finds and conducted Livingstone coring, test excavation, geologic profiling, or augering in areas with sediment accumulations to explore subsurface sediments and to look for areas with the potential for preserved archaeological sites. This exploration has allowed us to reach a greater understanding of the extreme heterogeneity found in Florida’s fluvial systems and has refined our ability to predict Paleoindian site locations.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Geoarchaeology of Submerged, Intertidal, And Wetland Places: Advances In Method And Theory of Prehistoric Archaeology Underwater - 2015   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage