Page-Ladson and Submerged Late Pleistocene Sites along the Aucilla River, Florida, and their Importance to First Americans Archaeology

Summary

Late Pleistocene terrestrial archaeological sites now lie submerged in the karstic river systems of Florida. Nowhere is this more apparent than along the Aucilla River where dozens of inundated prehistoric sites are known. One of the most important sites is Page-Ladson, which has yielded some of the earliest unequivocal evidence for pre-Clovis occupation in North America, dating back to 14,550 cal yr B.P. At that time, sea levels had fallen approximately 100 m and people utilized a pond in the bottom of a sinkhole that was located ca. 250 km inland from the coast. Subsequent sea level rise slowly submerged the site, 4 m of sediment buried the site, and the sinkhole became part of the Aucilla River channel. This scenario was repeated at multiple sites, creating a rich underwater record of archaeological sites dating to the Late Pleistocene in Northwest Florida. These submerged sites are critically important to First American studies because they occur in a secure geological context that can be dated by the radiocarbon method. Further, floral and faunal remains are well preserved at these sites which can provide detailed paleoenvironmental records related to climate change and megafaunal extinctions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21024