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ABOUT WARM MINERAL SPRINGS
AREA
by I. Mac Perry
WARM MINERAL SPRINGS
Florida archeology sites near the Myakka River. Quite famous in its
aboriginal history is Warm Mineral Springs, north of U.S. Highway 41
and east of the river. The springs flow into a sinkhole, filling it
with warm mineral water treasured by locals who enjoy the health aspects.
A 1960 report by Royal and Clark indicated that a partly burned log
and human skeletal remains found by SCUBA divers was dated at 8050 B.C.
The assertion was made that "early man in this area inhabited limestone
caves in now water-filled sinkholes." In 1992, the sun Coast Archaeological
and Paleontological Society reported that the skeletal remains were
"that of a 19-year-old girl, possibly a Paleo-Indian about 66 inches
tall, (and now lies) on a shelf in a laboratory at Arizona State University."
In 1972, underwater archaeologist Carl J. Clausen made dives at the
site and found two fragments of human skeletal material which radiocarbon-dated
to 8000. B.C. confirming Colonel William Royal's report.
At this time, in the valleys north of the Persian Gulf, Stone Age gatherers
were leaving their hovels by the creeks to begin planting date palms
and digging irrigation canals. They established market places and herded
sheep and goats in pastures and planted vast fields. The cradle of civilization
was beginning to rock. But it would be thousands of years before these
Middle East ideas would reach Florida. Here, aboriginals remained hunter-gatherers.
Other sites, West Coral Creek, Fish Creek, etc. have pointed to the
presence of people along west coast Florida prior to 8000 B.C., but
the evidence has been spear points found in megafauna known to exist
at that time, not actual human skeletal material.
LITTLE SALT SPRING
The second site is also a "wet site" a rapidly disappearing,
relatively untouched, archaeological resource in Florida. It too was
investigated by the charismatic Colonel William R. Royal. One exceptional
find at Little Salt Spring was an extinct giant land tortoise impaled
with a spear eighty-five feet below present water level. The spear was
radiocarbon-dated to 10,000 B.C., the date of earliest evidence of people
in the southeast. Apparently, the speared tortoise had fallen into the
sinkhole and was not retrieved by the aboriginals. In time, the water
table rose to further fill the sinkhole. Additional finds included a
non-returning oak boomerang and a wooden mortar.
The most significant find, however, was the many human remains which
had been interred during the Middle Archaic period. These were found
in the soft peat moss which makes up the slough leading to the spring.
Over the years, Royal has collected about 9,000 bones and artifacts
of people who lived 12,000 years ago and the remains of prehistoric
animals twice that old.
Apparently, the freshwater source at Little Salt Spring had attracted
aboriginals to camp in the area during a time when surface water was
scarce. Anthropologist Barbara Purdy said, "The site had no allure
when the water became salty and when lake bottoms filled and rivers
flowed elsewhere providing easier access to water than the deep sinks".
Archaeologist
Carl Clausen, having investigated the site now underwater, reconstructs
the scenario this way: A desperate end, with no way out, seems to be
the shared fate of a Paleo-Indian and a land tortoise who both fell
into Little Salt Spring, Florida about 12,000 BP. In the dry conditions
of the time, the spring's water level was much lower (see diagram above).
The man was able to find shelter on a ledge and impale and cook the
tortoise. But when the tortoise meat gave out, what could he do? The
overhang prevented his climbing out. He could only shout, and wait and
hope. Thus he starved to death on that ledge where his bones were found
in this century underwater on that same ledge after the water rose to
where it is today.
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