A Mammoth Question: Can We Count the First Floridians Among the First Americans?

Summary

In 1973, a small team of archaeologists and students made a startling announcement concerning the Guest Mammoth site, in Central Florida. Underwater excavations on the site in the Silver River yielded the remains of three Columbian Mammoths in direct association with lithic artifacts. Two of the

bones bore cutmarks. The prevailing Clovis-first paradigm, inaccurate radiocarbon dates obtained from unpurified mammoth bone collagen, and the novelty of an underwater prehistoric site all led to scholars rejecting this potentially significant site. In this paper I summarize historical information on the Guest Mammoth site and synthesizes data collected from renewed excavations at the site, conducted in the summer of 2017. In addition, I also discuss data obtained from geologic and geophysical surveys at the site from 2014-2016.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Contribution of Drowned Landscapes to Understanding Past Peoples   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 1110