Home Page is Florida Time Forgot


Made In America

Words & Photo by Mark Renz

Found by Liz and Ed Brotak...thrown back in river as part of State's "Catch & Release" program

If we could safely travel thousands of years into the past, wouldn't it be cool to squat next to a Paleo campfire and sample some of the local chef's mammoth chops, deer burgers, side-of-sloth or saber-cat stew? And then after dinner, hear family fireside chats in whatever strange dialect was spoken?

How frightened were Florida's first people about what lay beyond their campsite and the protection they received in armed numbers? Did they view themselves as the dominant life form for their world or as an equal, fighting for survival like all the other animals? What were the roles of the women and men as well as the children? What did they do when they were just goofing off? What games were played? Did they have a weatherman and was he as off-base as those on television today?

What about their reverence for life? When they killed a mastodon, did it disturb them to see it die, even though they were killing for food and other necessities? Did they observe the social interaction between these gentle giants the way we do elephants today?

After hanging out in the paleo world, perhaps we could journey a thousand years beyond 2012, and see our own culture studied by archaeologists. I personally can think of no greater contribution to humankind after I die than to have my bones, my work space, my living quarters, the tools I handle every day, whether they be an IPhone, a microwave oven or a digital camera, studied under a future generation's microscope. Think what they can learn from our culture's successes and mistakes!



Click here for a paleo piece I wrote many moons ago called, "Exploring the eternal Suwannee River".



Suwanee booty found by Mark Renz