About 12, years ago Paleo-Indians lived in Florida, [ 1 ] but fewer than sites have been found. Paleo-Indians then required fewer moves between water spots and more populous camps inhabited for longer periods of time emerged. Among the spots where camps from this later period have been found is around Paynes Prairie , very close to Gainesville. Eventually more complex social organization and agricultural practices emerged into what archaeologists classify as the Deptford culture β BC.
A Deptford culture campsite has been excavated beneath the subsequent Alachua culture "Law School Burial Mound" on the grounds of the University of Florida. In the 7th century the Deptford people were displaced by migrants thought to be from the Ocmulgee culture of the river valleys of southern Georgia , dubbed the Alachua culture since most of their villages have been found in present-day Alachua County.
Alachua culture villages budded off to form clusters connected by a series of forest trails, many of which are still in use as paved roads; [ 9 ] among these clusters are some in the present city limits of Gainesville near the Devil's Millhopper and near Moon Lake the eastern shore of which is 0.
In the recorded period, the region was home to the Potano , a Timucua chiefdom descended from Alachua culture people the town of Potano was in what is now the San Felasco Hammock northwest of Gainesville. Hernando de Soto and his army passed through Gainesville in August towards the beginning of their four-year exploration of what is now the southeastern United States , the third village where they stayed, Utinamocharra, having been in the dense cluster east of Moon Lake [ 13 ] at the northwestern edge of present-day Gainesville.
The Native Americans , having little resistance to diseases introduced from Europe, declined significantly in number after the arrival of Europeans, and Spanish suppression of native revolts further reduced the population. The remaining Timucua were converted to Roman Catholicism and organized into missions overseen by Franciscan priests.
