Apalachee Bay
Apalachee Bay is a bay in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico occupying an indentation of the Florida coast to the west of where the Florida peninsula joins the United States mainland. It is bordered by Taylor, Jefferson, Wakulla, and Franklin counties.[1]
The Aucilla, Econfina, St. Marks, and Ochlockonee rivers drain into the bay. Most of the bay's coast is the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.[2]
Name
[edit]Apalachee Bay is named for the Apalachee people which lived between the Aucilla and Ochlockonee rivers until early in the 18th century. The St. Marks River below where the Wakulla River joins it was at one time known as the Apalachee River. The meaning of "Apalachee" was not recorded, but in the Choctaw language, which is believed to be closely related to the Apalachee language, Apelachi means 'help' or 'helper', and Apelichi means 'the place in which to rule, preside, or govern in'.[3]
Geology
[edit]Most of the shoreline of Apalachee Bay is part of the Big Bend Coast, a drowned karst region, covered with salt marsh and mangrove forests. The western end of the bay, south of the mouth of the Ochlockonee River, is bordered by a sand beach at the eastern end of St. James Island, site of Bald Point State Park. There are barrier islands west of the Ochlockonee River, but there are no barrier islands elsewhere around the bay. The bay includes freshwater springs, and oyster reefs. The coast of Apalachee Bay has little or no sand or mud. The karst topography has produced an irregular, frequently exposed, bedrock surface.[4][5][6][7] The lack of sand has been a feature of the Apalachee Bay coast since at least the Pleistocene.[8] Sediment of Holocene origin is generally limited to salt marshes and the nearshore zone, and is redistributed by tidal action and storm events.[9] The coast of Apalachee Bay is on the Gulf Coastal Lowlands of Florida, which has recently exposed ocean-smoothed terraces with Tertiary limestone at or just below the surface. The presence of a high water table has produced a karst landscape. The limestone hosts the Florida aquifer, which reaches the surface near the coast. Steady discharge from the aquifer supports the discharge of the many springs feeding rivers and streams along the coast and maintains a high water table near the coast.[10]
Rivers and other freshwater sources
[edit]The Aucilla, Econfina, St. Marks, and Ochlockonee rivers drain into the bay. All of the rivers that reach the Gulf of Mexico along the coast of Apalachee Bay are partly spring-fed.[11] The rivers and smaller streams flowing into Apalachee Bay lower the salinity of the nearshore water. The seasonality of rainfall produces seasonal variations in the salinity of the waters in Apalachee Bay. Rainfall from tropical cyclones may also lower the salinity of nearshore waters. The shallowness of nearshore waters also mean that the water temperature is strongly affected by the air temperature. Tropical species may be killed by cold weather, or may migrate southward or to deeper water less subject to cooling in winter.[12]
Besides rivers and streams, hundreds of springs (including submarine springs), fractures and seeps along the coast of Apalachee Bay contribute to the flow of freshwater into the Gulf of Mexico. The close proximity of the Florida aquifer to the surface with only a shallow soil layer over the porous limestone bedrock means that groundwater can emerge in many locations. A survey found hundreds of places along the coast which flows into the Gulf, including many under water in the Gulf. The authors of that study estimated that the discharge from the identified inland sources is equivalent to that of one 1st-magnitude spring for every 2 miles (3.2 km) of coast.[13]
History
[edit]Underwater archaeological sites
[edit]Beginning in the 1980s submerged archaeological sites have been identified and examined on the seabed of Apalachee Bay. During the height of the last glacial period, global sea levels were at least 100 metres (330 ft) lower than in the 20th Century. All of the Florida Platform would have been above sea level, with the west coast of the Florida peninsula being about 150 miles (240 km) west of the current coast. Sea levels were rising when the first people reached Florida late in the Pleistocene epoch. Sea level at the end of the Pleistocene epoch was about 40 metres (130 ft) lower than at present. By about 8,000 years Before Present (BP) sea level had risen to about 20 metres (66 ft) lower than at present. Because of the very gentle slope of the Florida platform, the ancient coastline was far to the west of the 20th Century coastline.[14]
The lower sea levels of the late Pleistocene and early Holocene epochs resulted in a drier climate, a lower water table, and little surface water in Florida. Often in landscapes dominated by karst systems, such as the land adjacent to Apalachee Bay, including the formerly dry land currently submerged under the bay, the only available fresh water was in sinkholes along dried-up riverbeds.[15]
Many sites where people were present in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene epochs have been found in the Big Bend region adjacent to Apalachee Bay, and particularly in sinkholes in the bed of the Aucilla River. Some of these sites show evidence of the presence of people in the late Pleistocene, even before the appearance of the Clovis culture (see Page-Ladson). The broad, shallow continental shelf under Apalachee Bay adjacent to a region with abundant archaeological sites led to the prediction that archaeological sites could be found on the formerly dry land that has since been submerged beneath the bay.[16] Fifteen archaeological sites had been found on the seabed of Apalachee Bay by 1993.[17]
The sea floor under Apalachee Bay was surveyed to identify now submerged river courses. Parts of the course of the Paleoaucilla, as well as fragments of possible ancient courses of other rivers were found, and sites with evidence of human activity have been found along them. Sites identified along the Paleoaucilla include the J&J Hunt Submerged Archaeological Site (8JE740), the Ontolo site (8JE1577) and Area 91-B (8JE781). Based on tools found and Radiocarbon dating, the J&J Hunt, Ontolo and Area 91-B sites were occupied from late in the Paleoindian period until the middle of the Archaic period.[18]
West of the sites along the Paleoaucilla is the Fitch site (8JE739), on a channel that may be the Paleopinhook. (The Pinhook River is a short stream just to the west of the mouth of the Aucilla River.) The Fitch site is 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the mouth of the Aucilla River and 17 feet (5.2 m) under water. The Fitch site may have been used as a chert quarry early in the Archaic period, before 7500 years BP.[19][20]
The Econfina Channel site (8TA139) is an archaeological site on what may be the ancient channel of the Econfina River. It is 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) offshore and under 2 to 5 metres (6.6 to 16.4 ft) of water. The site includes an area where stone tools were found and a shell midden, with a spring nearby. Radiocarbon dating of shells from the midden yielded dates of 4510 years BP +/- 461 years, and 2621 years BP +/- 423 years.[21] The larger shell midden is on the south side of the paleochannel. It is about 30 metres (98 ft) long parallel to the paleochannel and about 20 metres (66 ft) across from the edge of the paleochannel into adjacent eelgrass beds, and is 0.5 to 1 metre (1.6 to 3.3 ft) thick. Additional shell middens up to 27 metres (89 ft) long have been found on the north side of the paleochannel. Putnam[22] and Newnan[23] points, which were used from 7000 to 5000 calibrated BP, have been recovered from the site. Radiocarbon dates for oyster shells in the middens range from 5500 to 3000 calibrated BP. The rising sea level submerged the site sometime after 4500 calibrated BP.[24]
Ray Hole Spring (8TA171) is a site 19 miles (31 km) south of the Aucilla River in 35 feet (11 m) of water. The site was described as a sinkhole with a flowing spring in 1976. The hole appears to have been partially filled with debris since then, possibly as a result of turbulence from hurricanes that passed over Apalachee Bay. The site is associated with the “Ray Hole Trough”, part of the Paleoaucilla channel.[25] A piece of southern live oak wood was found on the margin of the sinkhole at the bottom of a crevice under a lens of oyster shells. The wood was free of teredo worm damage, which indicates it was deposited in fresh water, likely in a hammock, and later covered by an oyster bed as the sea level rose. That sequence is supported by a radiocarbon date of 8220 BP for the wood, and 7440 BP for the oyster shells.[26] Chert flakes that may be deteriorated debitage from tool manufacture were recoverd from the margins of the sinkhole.[27] Two debitage flakes that are clearly the result of human work have also been found at the site.[28]
Aboriginal occupation
[edit]Paleo-Indians entered the vicinity of Apalachee Bay at least 12,000 years ago. Evidence of Paleo-Indian occupation near the present-day coast of Apalachee Bay has been found at Wakulla Springs and the Page-Ladson site. As the sea level were still much lower than at present, other sites are presumed to now be underwater. The sea level rose rapidly during the early part of the Archaic period, but by about 5,000 years ago the sea level was approaching present-day levels. Late in the Archaic period the Norwood culture developed in the Apalachee Region. It was one of the earlier cultures in North America to produce ceramics. The people of the Norwood culture created many shell mounds, including some that are now underwater. About 2,500 years ago the Deptford culture replace the Norwood culture along the coast of Apalachee Bay. The Deptford culture was oriented primarily towards the sea, living in coastal hammocks. The later Swift Creek and Weedon Island cultures were more oriented to inland resources, but the Bird Hammock site, close to the coast, was occupied during both of the Swift Creek and Weedon Island cultures.[29]
Spanish period
[edit]![](http://178.128.105.246/cars-http-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/72/A055a161_0204.jpg/220px-A055a161_0204.jpg)
In July of 1528, the Narváez expedition reached Apalachee Province. While there, the Spanish were attacked several times by Apalachees. Their own scouting and reports from natives convinced the Spanish that the land to the east and north of Apalachee was sparsely occupied and the few people who lived there were poor. The Spanish were told that a village to the south called Aute had a lot of corn, beans, squash, and, because it was near the sea, fish, and would be friendly. The Spanish moved to Aute, a trip of nine days. On reaching Aute the Spanish found it deserted and all the buildings burned, but crops in the fields were ready to be harvested. Scouts found a river nearby, but reported that the sea was still far away. The expedition then moved from Aute to the river. The expedition had lost men to attacks, many of the men were sick, and they did not have enough horses to carry the sick.[30]
Over the summer of 1528, the Narváez expedition camped near the shore of Apalachee Bay near an Apalachee village named Aute, thought to be near modern-day Wakulla Springs, Florida.[31] The 250 remaining men in the expedition were forced to slaughter and eat their horses, and named the bay The Bay of Horses in commemoration.[32][page needed] Pánfilo de Narváez oversaw the creation of five rafts composed of local lumber and constructed with improvised tools crafted from the harquebuses and swords that the party melted in a rudimentary forge. The party departed at the end of the summer.
After the Hernando de Soto expedition reached Apalachee in 1539, a scouting party sent to the south identified the Narváez camp on a large bay off of Apalachee Bay. The Narvaez camp may have been at the Marsh Island Mound (archaeological site 8WA1) on the Wakulla River, or the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge Cemetery site (8WA15) on the St. Marks River.[33]
By 1637, Spanish ships were calling in Apalachee Bay to supply the missions in Apalachee Province. Amacano people, who may have been living along the coast of Apalachee Bay south or southeast of Apalachee Province in the late 1620s and the early 1630s, were living near the mouth of the Apalachicola River in 1637 when they guided Spanish ships to Apalachee Bay.[34]
A mission was established in the town of Chaccabi near Apalachee Bay in 1674. The town was identified as Chine, with Amacano and Pacara people living there, as well. Chaccabi was on a small stream identified as "Rio Chachave" on Spanish maps, flowing into western Apalachee Bay, and probably was what is today known as Spring Creek.[35] The town was not mentioned after 1675. After an enemy ship appeared off San Marcos in 1677, villages near Apalachee Bay were ordered to move inland.[36]
In 1718, the Spanish established the Presidio San Marcos de Apalachee at the existing port of San Marcos near the mouth of the St. Marks River.[37]
Notes
[edit]- ^ "Apalachee Bay | bay, Florida, United States". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2006-03-14.
- ^ "Apalachee Bay. The Columbia Gazetteer of North America. 2000". 2005-03-21. Archived from the original on 2005-03-21. Retrieved 2006-03-14.
- ^ Simpson 1956, pp. 23–24.
- ^ A Photo Gallery of Florida's Big Bend Tidal Wetlands, USA: USGS, archived from the original on December 25, 2015
- ^ "Status of Knowledge in Florida's Big Bend", GSA, USA: Confex, 2004, archived from the original on February 6, 2012.
- ^ Schmidt, Walter (1997). "Geomorphology and Physiography of Florida". In Randazzo, Anthony F.; Jones, Douglas S. (eds.). The Geology of Florida. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. p. 4. ISBN 0-8130-1496-4.
- ^ Davis 1997, p. 165.
- ^ MacNeil, F. Stearns (1950). Pleistocene Shore Lines in Florida and Georgia (PDF) (Report). Geological Survey Professional Paper 221-F. Washington, D.C.: United States Department of the Interior. p. 100.
- ^ Raabe & Stumpf 2015, pp. 147–148.
- ^ Vince, Humphrey & Simons 1989, pp. 6–8, 11, 16–17, 34.
- ^ Mattson et al. 2007, p. 173.
- ^ Hernnkind 2013, pp. 4–5.
- ^ Raabe et al. 2011, pp. 42–44.
- ^ Faught 2004, p. 276.
- ^ Milanich 1994, pp. 38–40.
- ^ Faught & Donoghue 1997, p. 418.
- ^ Anuskiewicz & Dunbar 1993, p. 4.
- ^ Faught 2004, pp. 275, 285.
- ^ Faught 2004, pp. 278–81.
- ^ Faught & Donoghue 1997, pp. 429, 436, 442.
- ^ Cook Hale, Hale & Garrison 2018, pp. 3, 10, 16.
- ^ "Putnam". Florida Museum of Natural History. September 20, 2020. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
- ^ "Newnan". Florida Museum of Natural History. September 20, 2020. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
- ^ Cook Hale et al. 2021, p. 5.
- ^ Faught & Donoghue 1997, pp. 424, 434, 436, 447.
- ^ Anuskiewicz & Dunbar 1993, pp. 5–6.
- ^ Anuskiewicz & Dunbar 1993, pp. 5.
- ^ Anuskiewicz & Dunbar 1993, pp. 7–8.
- ^ Wisenbacker, Michael (1998). Aboriginal Settlement in the Apalachee Region of Florida (Report). Tallahassee, Florida: Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research – via Global Underwater Explorers.
- ^ Cabeza de Vaca 2003, pp. 66–70.
- ^ "History: Wakulla County". Florida Natural Areas Inventory. Florida State University. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
- ^ Andrés., Reséndez (2007). A land so strange : the epic journey of Cabeza de Vaca : the extraordinary tale of a shipwrecked Spaniard who walked across America in the sixteenth century. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-06841-8. OCLC 171151948.
- ^ Milanich & Hudson 1993, pp. 219–220.
- ^ Hann 2006, p. 22.
- ^ Hann & McEwan 1998, p. 141.
- ^ Hann 1990, pp. 490–491.
- ^ Childers, Ronald Wayne (2004). "The Presidio System in Spanish Florida 1565–1763". Historical Archaeology. 38 (3): 24–32. doi:10.1007/BF03376651. JSTOR 25617178. S2CID 160809833.
References
[edit]- Cabeza de Vaca, Álvar Núñez (2003). Adorno, Rolena; Pautz, Patrick Charles (eds.). The Narrative of Cabeza de Vaca. Translated by Adorno, Rolena; Pautz, Patrick Charles. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9780803264168.
- Anuskiewicz, Richard J.; Dunbar, James S. (1993), "Evidence of Prehistoric Man at Ray Hole Springs: A Drowned Sinkhole Located 32 KM Offshore on the Continental Shelf in 12 M Seawater" (PDF), American Academy of Underwater Sciences Thirteenth Annual Scientific Diving Symposium, American Academy of Underwater Sciences
- Cook Hale, Jessica W.; Hale, Nathan L.; Garrison, Ervan G. (2018). "What is past is prologue: excavations at the Econfina Channel site, Apalachee Bay, Florida, USA". Southeastern Archaeology – via ResearchGate.
- Cook Hale, Jessica; Benjamin, Jonathan; Woo, Katherine; Astrup, Peter Moe; McCarthy, John; Hale, Nathan; Stankiewicz, Francis; Wiseman, Chelsea; Striver, Claus; Garrison, Ervan; Ulm, Sean; Bailey, Geoff (2021). "Submerged landscapes, marine transgressions and underwater shell middens: Comparative analysis of site formation and taphonomy in Europe and North America" (PDF). Quaternary Science Reviews. 258 (106867): 1–20. Bibcode:2021QSRv..25806867H. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.106867.
- Davis, Richard A. Jr. (1997). "Geology of the Florida Coast". In Randazzo, Anthony F.; Jones, Douglas S. (eds.). The Geology of Florida. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-1496-4.
- Faught, Michael K.; Donoghue, Joseph F. (1997). "Marine Inundated Archaeological Sites Paleofluvial Systems: Examples from a Karst-Controlled Continental Shelf Setting in Apalachee Bay, Northeastern Gulf of Mexico". Geoarchaeology. 12 (5): 418. Bibcode:1997Gearc..12..417F. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1520-6548(199708)12:5<417::AID-GEA1>3.0.CO;2-2. S2CID 13999347.
- Faught, Michael K. (April 2004). "The Underwater Archaeology of Paleolandscapes, Apalachee Bay, Florida" (PDF). American Antiquity. 69 (2): 275–289. doi:10.2307/4128420. JSTOR 4128420 – via JSTOR.
- Hann, John H. (April 1990). "Summary Guide to Spanish Florida Missions and Visitas with Churches in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries". The Americas. 46 (4): 417–513. doi:10.2307/1006866. JSTOR 1006866.
- Hann, John H. (2006). The Native American World Beyond Apalachee. University Press of Florida. ISBN 9-780-8130-2982-5.
- Hann, John H.; McEwan, Bonnie G. (1998). The Apalachee Indians and Mission San Luis. University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-1564-2.
- Hernnkind, William F. (March 2013). Sea Life of the Wilderness Coast (PDF) (Report). Tallahassee, Florida: The Florida State University Coastal & Marine Laboratory. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
- Mattson, Robert A.; Frazer, Thomas K.; Hale, Jason; Blitch, Seth; Ahijevych, Lisa (2007). "Florida Big Bend" (PDF). In Handley, L.; Altsman, D.; DeMay, R. (eds.). Seagrass Status and Trends in the Northern Gulf of Mexico: 1940–2002. United States Geological Survey. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 9, 2023.
- Milanich, Jerald T. (1994). Archaeology of Precolumbian Florida. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-1273-5.
- Milanich, Jerald T.; Hudson, Charles (1993). Hernando de Soto and the Indians of Florida. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. ISBN 9780813011707.
- Raabe, Ellen; Stonehouse, David; Ebersol, Kristin; Holland, Kathryn (September 2011). "Detection of Coastal and Submarine Discharge on the Florida Gulf Coast with an Airborne Thermal-Infrared Mapping System". The Professional Geologist. 48: 42-49 – via ResearchGate.
- Raabe, Ellen; Stumpf, Richard P. (5 May 2015). "Expansion of Tidal Marsh in Response to Sea-Level Rise: Gulf Coast of Florida, USA". Estuaries and Coasts. 39: 145–157. doi:10.1007/s12237-015-9974-y.
- Simpson, J. Clarence (1956). Boyd, Mark F. (ed.). A Provisional Gazetteer of Florida Place-Names of Indian Derivation. Special Publication No. 1. Tallahassee, Florida: Florida Geological Survey.
- Vince, Susan W.; Humphrey, Stephen R.; Simons, Robert W. (September 1989). "The ecology of hydric hammocks: a community profile" (PDF). U.S. Geological Service. Biological Report: 85(7.26). United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 15, 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2018.