Apalachee Bay is a bay in the northeastern

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

occupying an indentation of the

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

coast to the west of where the Florida peninsula joins the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

mainland. It is bordered by Taylor, Jefferson, Wakulla, and Franklin counties. The Aucilla, Econfina, St. Marks, and Ochlockonee rivers drain into the bay. In 1528 five boats were constructed by

Pánfilo de Narváez Pánfilo de Narváez (; 147?–1528) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' and soldier in the Americas. Born in Spain, he first embarked to Jamaica in 1510 as a soldier. He came to participate in the conquest of Cuba and led an expedition to Camag� ...

in the bay. It is named for the Apalachee tribe which lived between the Aucilla and Ochlockonee rivers until the 18th century. Most of the bay's coast is the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.

Underwater archaeological sites

Beginning in the 1980s submerged archaeological sites have been identified and examined on the seabed of Apalachee Bay. During the height of the last glacial period, global sea levels were at least lower than in the 20th Century. All of the Florida Platform would have been above sea level, with the west coast of the Florida peninsula being about west of the current coast. Sea levels were rising when the first people reached Florida late in the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

epoch. Sea level at the end of the Pleistocene epoch was about lower than at present. By about 8,000 years BP sea level had risen to about lower than at present. Because of the very gentle slope of the Florida platform, the ancient coastline was far to the west of the 20th Century coastline. The lower sea levels of the late Pleistocene and early Holocene epochs resulted in a drier climate, a lower water table, and little surface water in Florida. Often in landscapes dominated by

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, Dolomite (rock), dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathe ...

systems, such as the land adjacent to Apalachee Bay, including the formerly dry land currently submerged under the bay, the only available fresh water was in sinkholes along dried-up riverbeds. Many sites where people were present in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene epochs have been found in the Big Bend region adjacent to Apalachee Bay, and particularly in sinkholes in the bed of the Aucilla River. Some of these sites show evidence of the presence of people in the late Pleistocene, even before the appearance of the

Clovis culture The Clovis culture is a prehistoric Paleoamerican culture, named for distinct stone and bone tools found in close association with Pleistocene fauna, particularly two mammoths, at Blackwater Locality No. 1 near Clovis, New Mexico, in 1936 a ...

(see Page-Ladson). The broad, shallow continental shelf under Apalachee Bay adjacent to a region with abundant archaeological sites led to the prediction that archaeological sites could be found on the formerly dry land that has since been submerged beneath the bay. The sea floor under Apalachee Bay was surveyed to identify now submerged river courses. Parts of the course of the Paleoaucilla, as well as fragments of possible ancient courses of other rivers were found, and sites with evidence of human activity have been found along them. Sites identified along the Paleoaucilla in the

J&J Hunt Submerged Archaeological Site J&J Hunt Site (8JE740) is an inundated prehistoric archaeological site located 6 km off the coast of northwestern Florida. The site which was discovered in 1989 is located in 3.7 to 4.6 m of salt water in the Gulf of Mexico along the PaleoAuc ...

(8JE740), the Ontolo site (8JE1577) and Area 91-B (8JE781). Based on tools found and

Radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was de ...

, the J&J Hunt, Ontolo and Area 91-B sites were occupied from late in the Paleoindian period until the middle of the Archaic period. To the east of the Paleoaucilla, an archaeological site has been found in what may be the ancient channel of the

Econfina River The Econfina River is a minor river draining part of the Big Bend region of Florida, U.S.A. into Apalachee Bay. The river rises in San Pedro Bay near the boundary between Madison and Taylor counties, and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National ...

. The Econfina Channel Site (8TA139) is offshore and to deep. The site includes an area where stone tools were found and a shell

midden A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and eco ...

, with a spring nearby.

of shells from the midden yielded dates of 4510 years BP +/- 461 years, and 2621 years BP +/- 423 years. West of the sites along the Paleoaucilla is the Fitch site (8JE739), on a channel that may be the Paleopinhook. (The Pinhook River is a short stream just to the west of the mouth of the Aucilla River.) The Fitch site is from the mouth of the Aucilla River and under water. The Fitch site may have been used as a

chert Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a ...

quarry early in the Archaic period, before 7500 years BP. Ray Hole Spring (8TA171) is a site south of the Aucilla River in of water. The site was described as a sinkhole with a flowing spring in 1976. The hole appears to have been partially filled with debris since then, possibly as a result of turbulence from hurricanes that passed over Apalachee Bay. The site is associated with the “Ray Hole Trough”, part of the Paleoaucilla channel. Radiocarbon dates indicate Ray Hole was inundated between 8220 and 7390 years BP.Faught & Donoghue: Pages 424, 434, 436, 447.

Notes

References

* * * {{Coord, 30, 02, 14, N, 84, 10, 15, W, region:US_type:landmark_scale:500000, display=title Bays of Florida on the Gulf of Mexico Bodies of water of Taylor County, Florida Bodies of water of Jefferson County, Florida Bodies of water of Wakulla County, Florida Bodies of water of Franklin County, Florida