This book presents the multidisciplinary results of an extensive underwater excavation in north Florida. This yielded the most complete results of interactions between early Paleoindians and late Pleistocene megafauna, in a rich environmental context in eastern North America. The data provides fundamental insights into "the Peopling of the Americas" and "The Extinction of the Megafauna". An excellent color photo section expresses the uniqueness of this project.

This book presents the multidisciplinary results of an extensive underwater excavation in north Florida. This yielded the most complete results of interactions between early Paleoindians and late Pleistocene megafauna, in a rich environmental context in eastern North America. The data provides fundamental insights into "the Peopling of the Americas" and "The Extinction of the Megafauna". An excellent color photo section expresses the uniqueness of this project.

Presenting the most current research and thinking on prehistoric archaeology in the Southeast, this volume reexamines some of Florida’s most important Paleoindian sites and discusses emerging technologies and methods that are necessary knowledge for archaeologists working in the region today. Using new analytical methods, contributors explore fresh perspectives on sites including Old Vero, Guest Mammoth, Page-Ladson, and Ray Hole Spring. They discuss the role of hydrology—rivers, springs, and coastal plain drainages—in the history of Florida’s earliest inhabitants. They address both the research challenges and the unique preservation capacity of the state’s many underwater sites, suggesting solutions for analyzing corroded lithic artifacts and submerged midden deposits. Looking towards future research, archaeologists discuss strategies for finding additional pre-Clovis and Clovis-era sites offshore on the southeastern continental shelf. The search is important, these essays show, because Florida’s prehistoric sites hold critical data for the debate over the nature and timing of the first human colonization of the Western Hemisphere.

The late Pleistocene-early Holocene landscape hosted more species and greater numbers of them in the Southeast compared to any other region in North America at that time. Yet James Dunbar posits that a misguided reliance on using Old World origins to validate New World evidence has stalled research in this area. Rejecting the one-size-fits-all approach to Pleistocene archaeological sites, Dunbar analyzes five areas of contextual data—stratigraphy; chronology; paleoclimate; the combined consideration of habitat, resource availability, and subsistence; and artifacts and technology—to resolve unanswered questions surrounding the Paleoindian occupation of the Americas. Through his extensive research, Dunbar demonstrates a masterful understanding of the lifeways of the region’s people and the animals they hunted, showing that the geography and diversity of food sources was unique to that period. He suggests that the most important archaeological and paleontological resources in the Americas still remain undiscovered in Florida’s karst river basins. Building a case for the wealth of information yet to be unearthed, he provides a fresh perspective on the distant past and an original way of thinking about early life on the land mass we call Florida. A volume in the Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen Series

These essays cast new light on Paleoindians, the first settlers of North America. Recent research strongly suggests that big-game hunting was but one of the subsistence strategies the first humans in the New World employed and that they also relied on foraging and fishing.

This book in the SAA Press Current Perspectives Series represents a period-by-period synthesis of southeastern prehistory designed for high school and college students, avocational archaeologists, and interested members of the general public. It also serves as a basic reference for professional archaeologists worldwide on the record of a remarkable region.

"Hulbert's book provides the first comprehensive review of the fossil vertebrates of Florida, which has one of the richest Cenozoic fossil records of any state in the country. It will be an essential addition to the library of all professional paleontologists, students, and amateurs interested in the history of fossil vertebrates in Florida and the southeastern United States."-- Gary S. Morgan, assistant curator of paleontology, New Mexico Museum of Natural History "A wonderful mix of technical, state-of-the-art information . . . with commentary on everyday fossils that all may have experienced at one time or another. The book is both for the serious student of vertebrate paleontology and for anyone who has an interest in the fossils that may be encountered in Florida."-- David P. Whistler, curator of vertebrate paleontology, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Illustrated with hundreds of photographs and drawings, this authoritative yet readable book describes the fossil vertebrates found in Florida--many unique to the state--and summarizes more than 100 years of paleontological discoveries and research. It bridges the sometimes disconnected worlds of the professional paleontologist and the avocational collector and hobbyist. Florida has the richest vertebrate fossil record of any state east of the Mississippi, extending back 45 million years. Beginning with an introduction to vertebrate anatomy, Richard Hulbert describes the geological history of the state and the history of vertebrate life in it. He then addresses such questions as what animals lived in Florida, how they are related to one another and to living animals, when they first appeared and when many of them became extinct, what they ate, and what they tell us about past environments. All types of vertebrates are covered, including sharks and other fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. In addition to exceptionally detailed illustrations (many published for the first time), the book includes a comprehensive list of every verified fossil species ever collected in Florida. Based on the popular Plaster Jacket series of pamphlets written by renowned natural scientists and published by the Florida Paleontological Society, The Fossil Vertebrates of Florida brings information from the last 30 years into an up-to-date, greatly expanded, cohesive book form. Contributors Norman Tessman (sharks, carnivores) Elizabeth S. Wing (skates and rays and, with Camm Swift, bony fish) Walter Auffenberg (snakes, turtles, crocodilians) S. David Webb (proboscideans, peccaries, edentates, camels, ruminants) Robert A. Martin (aquatic rodents) John Waldrop (horses) Jesse S. Robertson (bison) Roy H. Reinhart (sea cows) Steve P. Christman (rattlesnakes) Clayton E. Ray (seals and walruses) Gary S. Morgan (whales and, with Ann E. Pratt, marine mammals) Bruce J. MacFadden (rhinoceroses) Jon A. Baskin (saber-tooth carnivores) Annalisa Berta (dogs) Jonathan J. Becker (birds) Peter A. Meylan (amphibians and reptiles) Richard C. Hulbert, Jr., collection manager for the Division of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, is the author or coauthor of 30 essays and monographs published in scholarly journals, including Nature, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, and Journal of Paleontology.