Crossing the waterline: Integrating terrestrial and submerged site investigations in the Aucilla River, Florida

Over the past decade, research in the Aucilla River of northwestern Florida, USA, has focused upon understanding the geoarchaeological context of numerous formerly-terrestrial, now-inundated sinkhole spring sites and the landscapes surrounding them. Dozens of terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene-aged diagnostic artifacts have been recovered from this river, some in association with drowned terrestrial soils and intact dateable stratigraphy. Currently-terrestrial sites have thus far proven nearly undateable and are often conflated and deflated, but they provide evidence of extensive and resilient lifeways along the Aucilla River basin over thousands of years. The wealth of paleoenvironmental proxy data recovered from the drowned landscapes can help to explicate where, why, and how some sites have preserved while others have not. These data further suggest how people were adjusting to their changing environments over the more than 14,000 years they have been occupying the Aucilla River basin. This paper details the methods utilized to work on both sides of the waterline to reach a more holistic understanding of geoarchaeological context and human societies in the Aucilla River basin.