Canoeing the Withlacoochee to Remnants of Ancient Florida

On this journey, we canoed up a stretch of the Withlacoochee River and visited two ancient Florida sites. Along the way, we encountered a variety of winged fowl. We saw snail kite, great blue heron, great white egret, common moorhen, anhinga, and commorant. We also---as expected---encountered the American alligator. Our first stop was a typical shell midden (kitchen midden) which also included sea biscuit (sea urchin) fossils. This area was the part of Flordia which first arose from the sea as Florida was being formed. We suspect the sea urchin fossils date back to that time period. After visiting the shell midden, we travelled onward to an ancient site that was likely used for the production of weaponry, tools, storage vessels and other items necessary for the survival of the people who inhabited this region. Here we saw potsherds in the water and lithic scatter throughout the landscape and many limestone boulders. Also, at this site, there were many massive and old southern live oak trees. One can only speculate what this area looked like when these forgotten people lived here.