This chapter introduces the book and gives an overview of the importance of Florida’s springs, the threats facing them in the 21st century, and the ways that springs have typically figured into archaeological narratives. In particular, it discusses the role of springs in the inception of shell mounding during the Mount Taylor period (7400–4600 cal BP) in the St. Johns River valley of northeast Florida. It has long been argued that the onset of spring flow, itself a result of Holocene sea-level rise, created the necessary ecological conditions for human exploitation of molluscs and the deposition of their shells in mounds and middens. The chapter provides a preliminary critique of this model, discusses the major arguments of the book, and closes with an outline of the remaining chapters.