First Floridians & Last Mastodons

This book presents the multidisciplinary results of an extensive underwater excavation in north Florida which yields the most complete results of interactions between early Paleoindians and late Pleistocene megafauna, especially Mammut americanum (American Mastodon), in a rich environmental context in eastern North America. It provides fundamental insights into two urgent issues: "The Peopling of the Americas"; and "The Extinction of the Megafauna". The authors describe and illustrate their unique methods of precise underwater excavations. They show how these techniques allowed them to collect a diversity of zoological, botanical and cultural material with outstanding organic preservation. The last section of the book provides a wealth of new evidence from the early Holocene about the flora and climate and how early Archaic people subsisted after the megafauna became extinct. An excellent color photo section expresses the unique setting and adventure of this project, extensively supported by National Geographic Society.