Early Snowbirds? Florida Sinkhole Yields Ancient Artifacts
NEW YORK— Scientists say a stone knife and other artifacts found deep underwater in a Florida sinkhole show people lived in that area some 14,500 years ago.That makes the ancient sinkhole the earliest well-documented site for human presence in the so...
In this 2015 photo provided by Texas A&M's Center for the Study of the First Americans, divers investigate the Page-Ladson archaeological site in Florida. Scientists say artifacts found deep underwater in a Florida sinkhole show people lived in that area some 14,500 years ago. That makes it the earliest well-documented site for human presence in the southeastern U.S., and important for understanding the settling of the Americas, experts said. S. Joy/CSFA via AP
NEW YORK— Scientists say a stone knife and other artifacts found deep underwater in a Florida sinkhole show people lived in that area some 14,500 years ago.
That makes the ancient sinkhole the earliest well-documented site for human presence in the southeastern U.S., and important for understanding the settling of the Americas, experts said.
The findings confirm claims made more than a decade ago about the site, some 30 miles southeast of Tallahassee. At that time, researchers reported evidence that humans were there some 14,400 years ago. But in an era when such an old date was widely considered impossible, other experts disputed the evidence, said Mike Waters of Texas A&M University in College Station.
The sinkhole was “just politely ignored,” he said.
Co-principal investigator Michael R. Waters and CSFA student Morgan Smith examine a stone tool after its discovery at the Page-Ladson archaeological site in Florida in 2013. A. Burke/CSFA via AP
