Prehistory

Two inherent natural characteristics of the barrier island habitat have, for eons, encouraged human settlement in St. Johns County. First, the immense biological productivity of the estuary provides food for its inhabitants.  Since many oceanic fish return periodically to spawn in the estuary and inlets, they are especially good places for fishing.  Second, in the area of dense vegetation, passable only with difficulty, the estuary also provides the most feasible mode of transportation.

Along the corridor, evidence has been discovered of the earliest inhabitants, prehistoric animals such as the mastodon, camel, tapir, and sloth. Evidence has been found that 10,000 years ago man may have hunted here, but no evidence that he lived here. However, the ocean was miles away to the east; thus, the settlements of the earliest Indians may be found along the ocean floor.  Later, after the rise of the ocean, the native inhabitants migrated seasonally to exploit a variety of resources. Their extensive utilization of coastal lagoons, particularly for shellfish, is evidenced by their shell middens and sand burial mounds (remnants remain in sites along the corridor). It was here that they came to fish and hunt for food. The river provided transportation and access to the resources.

Clues of human inhabitants can be traced back 7,000 years ago in Flagler County. The first inhabitants of this land originated from Asia. Hunters crossed the Bering Strait land bridge that once connected Siberia to Alaska approximately 50,000 years ago and eventually migrated to Florida.

After 7,000 B.C., the Earth's climate began to change as a warming trend caused glaciers to melt and release tremendous amounts of water into the ocean. Consequently, sea levels began to rise dramatically, changing the shape of Florida's coastlines. The warmer temperatures, gradually increasing rainfall, and higher sea levels acted together to cause a change in the environments as extensive hardwood forests gave way to pines and oaks and swamp forests emerged. This was the end of the last great Ice Age.

It was at the beginning of this period that the large mammals which once characterized Pleistocene Florida disappeared. In a new landscape, which looked similar to present day rural Volusia County, lesser mammals such as deer flourished.  The new environment produced a variety of new food sources to which prehistoric people adapted with a different technology.  These events marked the beginning of the Florida Archaic period.

Archeologists believe that around 2,000 BC the archaic people acquired from outside cultures the technology of pottery making. The earliest forms of pottery were made from locally gathered clays mixed with plant fibers.  When fired, the bodies of the ceramic vessels became orange in color. This era is known as the Orange Period.

The end of the Orange Period is marked by changes in pottery types resulting from the use of different tempering materials such as sand, which were used along with or in place of plant fibers.

By 500 BC, Orange Pottery was replaced with a chalky ware known as St. Johns.  The introduction of this ceramic type marks the beginning of the St. Johns Period, which lasted until the arrival of the European explorers around 1500. It was during this period that domesticated plants, mainly corn and squash, were used for the first time.

The original inhabitants of Flagler County eventually became known as the Eastern Timucuan Indians who lived in walled-in villages and worshipped the deer that roamed the area.

Although thousands of years separate the Flagler County residents of today from their ancestors, the men and women who lived here were really not that different from those today. They were highly specialized, had an organized society with chiefs and priests, and warred with other tribes.

The prehistoric settlements along the estuary were abandoned long ago, but the cultural remnants left by the inhabitants remain. No fewer than 50 archeological sites exist along the A1A corridor. Many of these sites are easily accessible from the highway.