Скачать или смотреть Megafauna and Paleoindians in Florida 14,500 Years Ago

During the late Pleistocene, Florida was home to a diverse array of megafauna, a landscape far different from today's subtropical environment. These colossal animals included iconic species like mammoths and mastodons, towering ground sloths, saber-toothed cats, dire wolves, ancient bison, and even giant armadillos and camels. Evidence of their presence is abundant throughout the state, often found in sinkholes and riverbeds where these animals sought water, and where their remains were remarkably preserved in anaerobic conditions. This fossil record provides a window into a past ecosystem that would have resembled an African savanna in its sheer scale and biodiversity, with both browsers and grazers thriving.

The Page-Ladson archaeological site in the Aucilla River stands as a pivotal location for understanding the relationship between Florida's megafauna and the earliest human inhabitants, known as Paleoindians, who arrived at least 14,500 years ago. At Page-Ladson, stone tools and mastodon bones have been found together in undisturbed geological contexts, with radiocarbon dating confirming human activity—including the butchering or scavenging of mastodons—around 14,550 years ago. This discovery is significant because it predates the widely accepted Clovis culture by over a millennium, providing irrefutable evidence of a pre-Clovis presence in North America and demonstrating that Paleoindians coexisted with and utilized megafauna for approximately 2,000 years before their eventual extinction around 12,600 years ago. Other evidence includes cut marks on a mastodon tusk and "straw mats" of chopped vegetation, interpreted as mastodon dung, further solidifying the interaction between these early humans and the giant beasts of the Ice Age.

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