"Southwest Florida’s Earliest Inhabitants" lecture by Steve Koski

Warm Mineral Springs and Little Salt Spring are national treasures of unprecedented significance. They are sinkholes and springs that were first visited by people in the late Pleistocene, 10,000-14,000 years ago. Warm Mineral Springs, owned by the City of North Port, is the only natural geothermal spring in the state and known for its mysterious healing waters and was developed as a commercial spa in the late 1950s.

Little Salt Spring is an archaeological and ecological preserve owned by the University of Miami. Both sites are known for their fascinating history of discoveries and are archaeological portals to Florida’s past and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places: Warm Mineral Springs for both its archaeology and historic buildings, and Little Salt Spring for its early evidence of human visitation and they play an important role in our cultural heritage.

Steven Koski is currently the Sarasota County archaeologist with Libraries and Historical Resources. He is responsible for the administration of Sarasota County’s Historic Preservation Ordinance, Chapter 66, and is an underwater archaeologist specializing in submerged coastal sites. He received his BA in Anthropology/Archaeology from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and completed graduate coursework and exams in an MA program at Arizona State University. His research interests include the early prehistory of Florida, coastal adaptations, and Paleoindian and Archaic period settlement and subsistence systems. Steve worked as an assistant underwater archeologist at Warm Mineral Springs (1986 – 1989) and is the former Research Associate at Little Salt Spring, University of Miami (2004 – 2013), where he worked with the director of research, Associate Professor Dr. John Gifford (retired) since 1992.

The event is free and open to the public via Zoom at 7 PM.

For more information on this and upcoming events, visit the website.