Posted on 02/19/2009 3:15:45 PM PST by JoeProBono
Divers exploring a southern Florida sinkhole have uncovered clues to what life was like for some of America's first residents.Led by University of Miami professor John Gifford, underwater archaeologists are exploring Little Salt Spring, 12 miles (19 kilometers) south of Sarasota.Earlier this year, students working about 30 feet (9 meters) below the surface found the remains of a gourd that probably was used as a canteen by an ancient hunter about 8,000 or 9,000 years ago, according to Gifford.Archaeologists have been recovering primitive relics from the spring since 1977, when divers found the remains of a large, now extinct tortoise and a sharpened stake that may have been used by a hungry hunter to kill the animal 12,000 years ago.In 1986, Gifford and his colleagues recovered a skull with brain tissue from what he thinks was an ancient burial in shallow water near the spring. He continues to work with DNA samples to determine the date of the find.Gifford and other archaeologists found more from the tortoise this past July, along with the slaughtered remains of a giant ground sloth.
The discovery of the sloth's bones, Gifford said, could indicate that Little Salt Spring was a sort of ancient butcher shop where hunters often killed and their prey and prepared meat when this was dry land.These remains come from the earliest known period of human activity in the Western Hemisphere, said Gifford, who has received funding for his work from the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration. (National Geographic News is owned by the National Geographic Society.)"This is a warehouse of environmental, natural, historical, and archaeological remains in a very, very well preserved environment," said Roger Smith, Florida's state underwater archaeologist."That's why it's a world-class site. I would call it a portal back into time."
Earlier this year, students working in a Florida sinkhole (inset) found the remains of a gourd that probably was used as a canteen by an ancient hunter about 8,000 or 9,000 years ago, according to researchers. These remains and others found at the site come from the earliest known period of human activity in the Western Hemisphere, added the underwater archaeology team exploring the site.
Is this about the stimulus plan?
/mark
Items recovered included McDonald’s straw wrappers, a few loose french fries and 17 cents in change.
come on man! LOL!!
What do they do with sinkhole homes?
aren’t there some more of these?
Going Into The Water:
A Survey Of Impact Events And The Coastal Peoples Of South-East North America
Cambridge Conference Network | 1-09-2002
Posted on 01/17/2002 4:08:32 PM PST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/610489/posts
Life Existed 9,000 Years Ago (Florida, 12,000 YO Artifacts)
Sun Herald | 8-15-2007
Posted on 08/19/2007 5:35:45 PM PDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1883578/posts
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To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. |
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Just fascinating.
The early ones kept fallin’ in the sinkhole, so there’s probably like six thousand years’ worth of their remains down there. ;’)
Flee from them?
I should have archaeologists take a look in my attic.
This [log] house was built in the 1700s and I don’t think any of the occupants ever cleaned out the attic.
There are literally layers of junk....uh...”artifacts” piled up from 2 centuries.
The task of *finally* clearing it all out is mind numbing.
[really, I’m just trying to get somebody to clean it out for me for free...the day a large mummified mystery rodent fell onto my head pretty much killed my desire to do it]....;-D
Maybe a vole. Was it about the size of a hamster?
“Croatoan” was carved into all of the fries.
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