SEARCHING FOR LATE PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS: RECENT GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF THE AUCILLA RIVER, FLORIDA

The timing of the peopling of the Americas remains a contentious topic in the archaeology of the Western Hemisphere. Before the chronology of this peopling event can be defined, archaeological sites of late Pleistocene age must be found within dateable deposits.

Within the mid-channel collapse sinkholes of the modern Aucilla River in northwest Florida, dozens of late Pleistocene archaeological sites lie inundated in both surficial and buried contexts. Despite four decades of dedicated research, however, only three of these sites have been securely dated with geoarchaeological field methods, including the 14,550-year-old Page-Ladson site. If we are to learn more about the earliest Americans, places that have the potential of containing late Pleistocene deposits, like the Aucilla River, need to be systematically investigated.

This poster presents preliminary results of recent deposit-centered investigations within the lower Aucilla River. Through a combination of remote-sensing and geologic testing using percussion coring, probable late Pleistocene sediments and soils have been mapped and sampled. Located near these deposits are ex-situ ivory and chert artifacts, as well as the osseous remains of Pleistocene megafauna, findings hinting that the sites identified through these deposit-centered geoarchaeological investigations have the potential to contain in-situ late Pleistocene archaeological sites. The methodology presented here provides a framework for future systematic and targeted investigation of late Pleistocene deposits and archaeological sites within a unique depositional setting.