pasted from:

http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/guerry/GLY4155/sp35/Fgs35.HTM

The Holocene Epoch began 10,000 years ago during a slow warming of the Earth’s climate. Sea level climbed intermittently toward its present level from a glacial low about 8,000 years ago. As the encroaching sea shrank the state to its present size, paleo-Indians spread throughout Florida, flourishing on the abundant resources. The first paleo-Indians probably migrated into the state from the continental mainland between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago. The earliest documentation of man’s presence in Florida comes from Little Salt Spring in Sarasota County. Paleo-Indian skeletal remains from this site have been dated at over 10,000 years old.

Sea level then was as much as 100 feet lower than at present, and the land area of Florida was much larger than it is n

During the paleo-Indian period (14,000 - 8,500 BP) and the Archaic period (8,500 - 3,000 BP) which followed, exploitation of the geologic resources of Florida was probably limited to the use of caves and sinks as water sources and possible shelter, and outcrops of chert for the production of projectile points, scrapers and other lithic tools. The next major advancement in the utilization of geologic resources was the manufacture of fired clay pottery. The earliest examples of pottery appear at various places in the state between 3,000 - 4,000 BP. The use of clay or mud to seal vertical post-walled structures and the use of sandstone scrapers has also been documented.

Throughout much of the Neogene and Pleistocene, Florida was home to a diverse animal population (Figure 18, Figure 19, Figure 20, and Figure 21). Many unique and now-extinct species migrated into temperate Florida to escape the cold and ice of the huge glaciers to the north. Fossil remains found today in Neogene and Pleistocene deposits include mastodons, mammoths, black bears, giant sloths, capybaras, beavers, lemmings, dire wolves, horses, tapirs, camels, glyptodonts, llamas and saber-toothed cats. Florida may have been a final refuge for many species as extinction took its toll on the once-diverse animal populations. Animals such as the mastodon, mammoth, giant sloth, and saber-toothed cat disappeared forever.

th the rising sea level during the Holocene came a corresponding rise in the state’s ground-water table. Most of Florida’s springs, lakes, and spring-fed river systems developed during the Holocene Epoch. The rate of sea level rise slowed about 3,500 years ago when sea level was five feet below present level. By that time the beaches, barrier islands, and spits characterizing Florida’s modern coastline had evolved. The complex geologic processes which shaped Florida into its present form continue today. Florida continues to evolve as the sea shapes the coasts and redistributes the sands and other sediments which are to be the rocks of future epochs.

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