#aFactADay2026
#1855: the population boom at the beginning of the Early Archaic period in the Bolen culture in Northern Florida was definitely at least partially caused by the rising sea levels - the water table rose, so there was more freshwater available inland, and the landscape changed from predominantly xeric (dry) to, uh, wet (there's gotta be a fancy word for that).
but, of course, the rising sea levels also more-than-halved Florida's area, so this can't fully explain the population rise. at least as of 2019 (if i'm not mistaken) this is an open question.
there are suggestions of a sudden population fall in the Bolen culture around 10-9.5kyBP; and couple that with rising temperatures after a period of sudden cooling, and a mass extinction just a thousnad years prior... if i, as an untrained unprofessional rando, were to make a guess, i might say that the population grew almost unsustainably in a (relatively) short period of time and crashed again. still, this is over the span of many many generations, so i don't know....
