Terrestrial soil or submerged sediment: The early archaic at page-ladson

Abstract

The Page-Ladson site (8JE591) is one of a cluster of related sites being examined by a team of researchers for the Aucilla River Prehistory Project. Located beneath the waters of the Aucilla River just below its confluence with the Wacissa River in Jefferson County, Florida, the site is composed of mineral and organic strata of Pleistocene and Holocene age. The site's ecological record documents climatic cycles of wet/warm and dry/cool periods, based on pollen and plant remains. A dynamic history of sedimentation is documented in the strata: a basal red peat (>12,570 yr BP) is overlain by various tan to gray silts and silt loams mixed with vegetation, sand and peat lenses, bone, chert chips, and shells. [Note: The use of soil textural terms such as "silt loam" is employed throughout this study to denote textural class (percentage of sand, silt, and clay), and does not imply that the underwater strata are soils.] Near the top of the excavated column in Test Pits C and F is a dark brown silty clay loam, dated to approximately 10,000 yr BP and laden with organic matter, wood fragments, and shell (Stratum 2A, Chapter 3 by Kendrick). Paleoindian artifacts were found scattered on the upper surface of this stratum which was labeled the "Bolen layer" to reflect the dominance of that artifact type.