WEST VOLUSIA AND THE ST

WEST VOLUSIA AND THE ST. JOHNS RIVER
- A 15,000-YEAR LOVE AFFAIR -

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Evidence of the other 97 percent comes from archeology, which has found the evidence of Native Americans who first came to the area as the last Ice Age was drawing to a close. Much of this evidence is buried within what is called middens, heaps of shells and other debris that dot the West Volusia area.

Middens actually are prehistoric trash heaps. The heaps contain remains of shellfish and other freshwater animals that were eaten by early people. Middens also contained pieces of pottery, discarded tools and other refuse.

Archeologists shifting through middens are similar to detectives going through a suspect’s trash. Seeing what somebody throws away gives a good idea of how that person lived. But people lived in West Volusia even before the middens began to develop. In fact. some of the earliest signs of humans in Florida come from the bottom of the St. Johns near DeLand. Scuba divers have found spear points, arrowheads and other stone tools along with the fossils of such long-extinct animals as mastodons and mammoths.

The people who left those ancient tools and weapons were nomadic hunters and gathers, living off game and wild plants, nuts and fruits. Descendants of the tribes who followed game across the Bering Strait land bridge from Asia to North America, they got to the West Volusia area about 15,000 years ago.

Florida was a vastly different place then than now. It was cooler and drier, making the river more shallow than it is today. Hunters would wait at narrow spots in the river, where animals were likely to cross, and ambush their prey as it slogged through the muddy banks.

About 9,000 years ago, the Earth’s climate warmed. Glaciers, which covered much of the earth during Ice Age, melted and caused ocean levels to rise. Central Florida became warm and humid, much as it is today. Giant land mammals of the Ice Age became extinct, but in their place came other species, such as alligators and manatees, that inhabit the St. Johns today.

The culture of the Floridians changed along with the climate and wildlife. They no longer were nomadic hunters -- following big game and living in temporary shelters. Instead, attracted by the abundance of fish and shellfish in the river and by the variety of game that lived along its banks, the people established permanent settlements.

These people left the first middens. By 4,000 B.C., they had developed cultures at least as sophisticated as Europe’s at that time. These early West Volusians made pottery, lived in large villages and practiced religion. Some of the earliest pottery in North America has been discovered in the remains of a large settlement on Tick Island, in the river near DeLeon Springs. The pottery, burials and clay sculptures all show that a fairly complex society existed on the island about 6,000 years ago.

Trade and warfare with other tribes introduced the West Volusia people to new pottery-making techniques and other advancements. By 500 B.C., people along the river also had begun growing their own crops. This provided more food, which allowed more people to live within the villages.