Prof says Chipola region rich in history

The Jackson County Chamber of Commerce’s First Friday Breakfast took a break from the usual business talk, with more of a focus on Jackson County’s history.
The breakfast hosted Dr. Nancy White — a well-known and respected archaeologist and professor from the University of South Florida.
White spoke Friday on her experience studying the region surrounding the Apalachicola and Chipola rivers, and its history. Attendees listened as White painted a picture of what the region was like thousands of years ago.
White specializes in the prehistoric and early historic cultures of northwest Florida. She and her students have conducted archaeological surveys along the Chipola and Apalachicola rivers for years.
Among her many accomplishments, White has published many works — one of the more popular titles is “Archaeology for Dummies.”
White shared with guests the history of the region, based on the artifacts found here.
“The Chipola River basin and all along this region is so archaeologically rich, and I don’t think people are aware,” White said. “I’ve been studying this area for years and have discovered about 500 sites, but I would bet that there are about 100,000 archaeological riches just in the river basin alone.”
White explained that along the Chipola River, archaeologists have found an abundance of different spear points that earlier inhabitants of this area used to hunt large game. The spear points were made of a flint-like material called chert, taken from many stone outcroppings scattered throughout north Florida. White explained the area is rich in stone, which brought many early hunter gatherers to this area.
White is also known for her expertise in the study of this region’s first inhabitants, the Native Americans.
White says archaeologists believe people first arrived in what is now Florida more than 12,000 years ago, when the earth was in the final stages of the last ice age. Florida at the time extended about 100 miles farther into what is now the Gulf of Mexico.
White says the “first people,” known as Paleo-Indians, left clues to their existence all around this region with their stone projectile points, hammers and other tools. These nomadic hunters roamed the area, living off big and small game.
“Yes, we have reason to believe that there were mastodons that roamed here in Jackson County,” White said.
As the earth began to warm, Florida’s climate changed and changed the plant and animal life with it, White explained.
About 1,000 years ago, cultural diversity emerged in the Florida Panhandle as native people began to grow corn, beans and squash, which began to support societies.
“But this lifestyle changed forever when our short Spanish explorers ‘discovered’ Florida,” White said. “I call them short because compared to the Native Americans, they were. The difference in diets gave the natives a much taller and slender build, compared to the Spanish.”
To accompany her presentation, White brought along some of the artifacts she had discovered in the area and answered questions guests had about them.
Many requested that her articles about the area be made available for residents to read and learn about their region’s history.