An Overview of the Historic Utilization of Caves in Florida

Summary

For thousands of years people have utilized cave environments in the southeastern United States.  Caves were used for shelter, burials, and religious ceremonies, and were mined for natural resources by both prehistoric and historic people.  Historically, caves in Florida were used for shelter, trash deposition, as quarries, and played a developmental role in Florida’s early tourism. Many of these caves still affect the lives of people in Florida through tourism, recreation, and scientific research.  Unfortunately, a holistic study of the human utilization of caves in Florida remains an uninvestigated topic in Florida anthropology.  The historic and archaeological examination of these environments can provide anthropological insight to the present-day use of Florida’s caves. This poster examines the historical archaeology of caves in Florida and provides an overview of the roles Florida’s caves have played in the lives of past and present people.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2013   •
• Poster Session 1

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 513