Harney Flats ─ A Florida Paleoindian Site

“Represents another stepping stone toward our understanding of life in the Southeast 10,000–11,000 years ago.”—Southeastern Archaeology

“The Paleoindian component at Harney Flats is a benchmark in early [human] studies in Florida and the Southeast.”—North American Archaeologist

“A work which must be recognized as a definitive study of Paleoindians in Florida and which will serve as a model for future archaeological studies throughout North America and elsewhere.”—Florida Anthropologist

“The book is a Florida Paleoindian classic.”—Dan F. Morse, coauthor of Archaeology of the Central Mississippi Valley

Discovered during construction of the I-75 corridor northeast of Tampa, the site of Harney Flats was a turning point in the archaeology of the southeastern United States. Beneath evidence of human settlement from the Middle Archaic period, researchers unearthed Paleoindian stone tools—representing a rare example of a stratified site in the Southeast with a Paleoindian occupation. The expansive excavations at Harney Flats demonstrated that significant land-based sites of early human settlement exist in Florida and are worth exploring.

Harney Flats describes the excavation, which was praised for its state-of-the-art strategy and interpretive methods despite its sandy environment, and details the objects uncovered—projectile points, scrapers, adzes—and what they reveal about the lives of the people who used them. Including an update on relevant research since its first publication, this volume is the definitive account of a critical finding in the study of early human history.



A volume in the Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen Series

I. Randolph Daniel Jr., professor of anthropology at East Carolina University, is the author of Hardaway Revisited: Early Archaic Settlement in the Southeast. Michael Wisenbaker is archaeology supervisor for public lands archaeology at the Florida Department of State.