Paleoenvironmental Change During the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition at Sloth Hole (8JE121), Northwestern Florida: A Palynological Perspective

Summary

This paper presents the preliminary results of a palynological investigation of sediments from Sloth Hole (8JE121), a site in the Aucilla River. The Aucilla River in Northwestern Florida creates a unique preservation environment that has produced rich cultural, faunal and botanical records from the Late Pleistocene to the present. Archaeologists and recreational divers alike have recovered probable Paleoindian-aged bifaces and a possible butchered mastodon fibula from Sloth Hole. In addition, an ivory tool recovered from this site has yielded a Clovis-age date. Recent palynological research at nearby Page-Ladson (8JE591) demonstrated significant variability in both the plant and herbivore communities during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. Many of the same patterns are reflected in the Sloth Hole sediments, suggesting a regional pattern of plant community change preceding and following megafaunal disappearance in the area. These environmental changes occur during a shift from Paleoindian to Archaic lifeways, when regional tool technologies appear to reflect a move to a more generalized diet, perhaps in part as a response to the disappearance of Late Pleistocene megafauna.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16078