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 Little Salt Springs - North Port, FL Posted by:  rogueblack
N 27° 04.621 W 082° 13.998
17R E 377715 N 2995564
an archeological and paleontological treasure
Waymark Code: WM3EBR
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 03/23/2008
Views: 37
According to Wikipedia:
Little Salt Spring is an archaeological and paleontological site in southern Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located off U.S. Route 41 in the city of North Port. On July 10,1979, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Little Salt Spring is a feature of the karst topography of Florida, specifically an example of a sinkhole. The numerous deep vents at the bottom of the sinkhole feed oxygen-depleted ground water into it, producing an anoxic environment below a depth of about three meters. This fosters the preservation of Paleo-Indian and early Archaic artifacts and ecofacts, as well as fossil bones of the extinct megafauna once found in Florida.
Originally it was thought that Little Salt Spring was a shallow freshwater pond, but in the 1950s SCUBA divers discovered that it was a true sinkhole extending downward over two hundred feet, similar to the cenotes of the Yucatán (another karst region).
The site has been owned by the University of Miami since 1982 and is studied by Dr. John Gifford of the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami.
Street address:
off of Price Blvd
North Port, FL USA
34257
County / Borough / Parish: Sarasota
Year listed: 1979
Historic (Areas of) Significance: Information Potential
Periods of significance: 5000-6999 BC, 3000-4999 BC
Historic function: Domestic, Funerary; Cemetery, Village Site
Current function: Commerce/Trade
Privately owned?: yes
Primary Web Site: [Web Link]
Secondary Website 1: [Web Link]
Season start / Season finish: Not listed
Hours of operation: Not listed
Secondary Website 2: Not listed
National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and brief account of your visit. Include any additional observations or information that you may have, particularly about the current condition of the site. Additional photos are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.
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