Abstract
ABSTRACT Eleven species of vertebrates, including an extinct giant land tortoise (Geochelone crassiscutata) killed with a sharpened wooden stake 12,000 radiocarbon years ago, are identified and discussed. The bones were collected from a ledge (reentrant) 26 meters below the present water surface at Little Salt Spring, a water-filled solution feature in coastal southwestern Florida. 12,000 years ago the water level in this feature was at the elevation of the ledge, and the sinkhole acted as a natural trap. Vertebrate remains accumulated on the ledge and were preserved in the soft clay derived from erosion of the siltstone wall in which the ledge formed. Vertebrates found with the slain tortoise include a large mouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), two aquatic turtles (Pseudemys floridana and P. nelsoni), three smaller individuals of Geochelone crassiscutata, a gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus), an extinct box turtle (Terrapene carolina putnami), a diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus), a wood sto...
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