Biogenic silica as an environmental indicator

Abstract

For more than a decade, archaeologists and paleontologists from ARPP (the Aucilla River Prehistory Project) assisted by a team of auxiliary researchers have examined strata, artifacts, and fossils from sites in the Aucilla River in Jefferson County, Florida. Not only are these sites important as records of Paleoindian habitation of late Pleistocene Florida, they also preserve a record of climatic and taxonomic changes that occurred at the end of the Wisconsin Glaciation 10,000 years ago. These sites characterize a complex and dynamic area whose unique nature is due to seasonal and long-term variability, and to the multitude of other factors which are known to effect riverine environments. Sediments and soil types, along with ecological markers, such as shells, macroscopic plant remains, pollen, and biogenic silica can be moved from their original point of deposition in riverine sites creating impediments to our understanding of these sites. The multi-discipline approach taken by the ARPP researchers promises to answer many of the remaining questions about this historically significant site.