[decimon]

All-American trash ping.

[Migraine]

So. Sometimes, when humans leave their foul footprints, good things happen? How can this be????

[denydenydeny]

Garbage mounds left by prehistoric humans might have driven the formation of many of the Florida Everglades' tree islands, distinctive havens of exceptional ecological richness in the sprawling marsh that are today threatened by human development.

Some people are apparently born without the irony gene.

[fso301]

Garbage mounds left by prehistoric humans might have driven the formation of many of the Florida Everglades' tree islands, distinctive havens of exceptional ecological richness in the sprawling marsh that are today threatened by human development.

Thousands of square miles of sawgrass is what the author terms ecological richness. If you really want the area to have ecological richness, drain the fetid swamp dry.

[The Iceman Cometh]

Ancient Trash Heap.

[If You Want It Fixed - Fix It]

Rocket scientists avoid this line of work: where would YOU sit to have a meal or light a fire to cook with? In the water or on a small mount. Set a pot down on the low land or on a mound?

Maybe they should rephrase it: First American BBQ Grills

I think they need to dig a foot deeper.

[chickadee]

[Rebelbase]

Shell mounds re-invented.

[Rebelbase]

“The layer also contains phosphorus from dissolved bones,”

If you were an animal dying in the swamp wouldn’t you climb up out of the water to find a more comfortable place to expire?

[ExGeeEye]

"This goes to show that human disturbance activity in the environment doesn't always usually have a negative consequence..."

Fixed it.

[Cicero]

Bones also leaked phosphorus, a nutrient for plants that is otherwise scarce in the Everglades.

So, I suppose this explains why the regulators took all the phosphorus out of dishwasher soap, with the result that many of our dishwashers broke over the course of the past year.

We wouldn't want to be leaking a "nutrient for plants" into our streams and ponds, would we?

[airborne]

"This goes to show that human disturbance in the environment doesn't always have a negative consequence," says Gail Chmura, a paleoecologist at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and one of the authors of the study.

Talk like that is going to lose her some big Gubmint grants!

[blueunicorn6]

Another Florida amusement park. Probably $50 to get in to see it.

[Vinnie]

I’m skeptical of this explanation. There’s so many ‘heads’ that I can’t imagine ancient human garbage accounting for them.
The phosphorus could have come from the huge phosphate mines N. W. of Lake Okeechobee and been carried in the aquifer.

[Repeal The 17th]

“...This goes to show that human disturbance in the environment doesn’t always have a negative consequence...”
-
Stupid statement.

[bert]

Typically, archeologists capture the field and then occupy the language.

Tree Island = Hummock

The thesis is that the hummocks were where humans lived and left trash

[SunkenCiv]

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[JerseyHighlander]

These trash heap middens go all the way north up the Everglades tributaries up towards Orlando FL and Shingle Creek. From Northeast of there they are shown again in the St John’s tributaries heading north toward the FL/GA border.

http://www.volusia.org/history/sitemap.jpg

I’ve visited afew of these places, beautiful spots, but I can’t believe the mosquitos didn’t cause endemic tropical diseases in the native population.

[Moonman62]

These middens, a mixture of bones, food discards, charcoal, and human artifacts (such as clay pots and shell tools), would have provided an elevated area, drier than the surrounding marsh, allowing trees and other vegetation to grow. Bones also leaked phosphorus, a nutrient for plants that is otherwise scarce in the Everglades.

Most nutrients are scarce in the Everglades. It's like a desert with water. I don't know why people get all misty eyed about it.

[1010RD]

Notes for reporters: ...distinctive havens of exceptional ecological richness in the sprawling marsh that are today threatened by human development...

That's their money quote.