National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior
National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior
Southeast
Archeological
Center
 
Tallahassee, Florida
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Featured Project

The Salt Springs Site: An Ancient Shoreline Revealed

Figure 1. Salt Springs, view from north side of spring.

Figure 1. Salt Springs, view from north side of
spring.
In March 2009, construction of a retaining wall exposed a remarkable ancient river bottom filled with 6,000 year old gourds, axed logs, and wooden artifacts. Located in the headwaters of the Salt Springs River in the Ocala National Forest (USFS) the site was discovered during monitoring of a backhoe trench placed along the shoreline which was covered by a Mystery Snail (Viviparus Georgianus) shell midden.1

Salt Springs is a popular natural spring that attracts thousands of people each year to its clear, warm waters (Figure 1). The wooden retaining wall that had surrounded the spring for decades was determined to be unsafe in 2008, and plans for renovation were developed. Acheological testing prior to construction indicated a possibility of deeply buried undisturbed cultural material, even though upper zones had been highly disturbed in modern times. In the spring of 2009, contactors for the USFS began replacing the crumbling wall. A coffer dam was erected to hold back the spring water and the water around the construction site was drained. Figure 2. Dark midden soil is revealed as the old retaining wall is removed.

Figure 2. Dark midden soil is revealed as the
old retaining wall is removed.
When portions of the old wall were removed, the ancient shoreline was revealed (Figure 2).

In a cooperative partnership, archeologists from The National Park Service's Southeastern Archeological Center (SEAC) and the USFS National Forests in Florida established a grid system to excavate the exposed shoreline in 1 meter square units. Volunteers from across America and Canada provided labor and expertise for the two week salvage project.2


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