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The Indigenous peoples of Florida lived in what is now known as Florida for more than 12,000 years before the time of first contact with Europeans. However, the indigenous Floridians had largely died out by the early 18th century. Some Apalachees migrated to Louisiana, where their descendants now live, some were taken to Cuba and Mexico by the Spanish in the 18th century, and a few may have been absorbed into the Seminole and Miccosukee tribes. ==Paleoindians== The first people arrived in Florida before the extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna. Human remains and/or artifacts have been found in association with the remains of Pleistocene animals at a number of Florida locations. A carved bone depicting a mammoth found near the site of Vero man has been dated to 13,000 to 20,000 years ago.〔 〕 Artifacts recovered at the Page-Ladson prehistory site date to 12,500 to 14,500 years ago. Evidence that a giant tortoise was cooked in its shell at Little Salt Spring dates to between 12,000 and 13,500 years ago.〔Purdy:84-90〕 Human remains and artifacts have also been found in association with remains of Pleistocene animals at Devil's Den,〔Purdy: 65-68〕 Melbourne,〔Purdy:23-29〕 Warm Mineral Springs, and the Cutler Fossil Site. A ''Bison antiquus'' skull with an embedded projectile point has been found in the Wacissa River. Other important Paleoindian sites in Florida include Harney Flats in Hillsborough County, the Nalcrest site, and Silver Springs.〔Milanich 1994: 43, 46, 47, 58〕 Florida's environment at the end of the Pleistocene was very different from that of today. Because of the enormous amount of water frozen in ice sheets during the last glacial period, sea level was at least lower than now. Florida had about twice the land area, its water table was much lower. Its climate also was cooler and much drier. There were few running rivers or springs in what is today's Florida. The few water sources in the interior of Florida were rain-fed lakes and water holes over relatively impervious deposits of marl, or deep sinkholes partially filled by springs.〔Milanich 1994:38-40〕 With water available only at scattered locations, animals and humans would have congregated at the water holes to drink. The concentration of animals would have attracted hunters. Many Paleoindian artifacts and animal bones showing butchering marks have been found in Florida rivers, where deep sinkholes in the river bed would have provided access to water. Sites with Paleoindian artifacts also have been found in flooded river valleys as much as under the Gulf of Mexico, and suspected sites have been identified up to offshore under of water. Half of the Paleoindian sites in Florida may now be under water in the Gulf of Mexico. Materials deposited in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene in sinkholes in the beds of rivers were covered by silt and sealed in place before the water table rose high enough to create running rivers, and those layers remained undisturbed until excavated by archaeologists. These deposits preserved organic materials, including bone, ivory, wood, and other plant remains.〔Milanich:40-46〕 Archaeologists have found direct evidence that Paleoindians in Florida hunted mammoths, mastodons, ''Bison antiquus'', and giant tortoises. The bones of other large and small animals, including ground sloths, tapirs, horses, camelids, deer, fish, turtles, shellfish, snakes, raccoons, opossums, and muskrats are associated with Paleoindian sites.〔Milanich:47-48〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Indigenous peoples of Florida」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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