Prehistoric burial site on safer ground now
Prehistoric burial site on safer ground now
Rick Neale, USA TODAY 12:06 a.m. EST December 23, 2013
TITUSVILLE, Fla. – Tucked behind a leafy oak hammock near this Brevard County city, a murky blackwater bog containing some of the world's rarest archaeological treasures will remain protected from a potential housing development. The vegetated 8.5-acre upland buffer bordering the Windover Archaeological Site has been purchased for $90,000 by The Archaeological Conservancy. This New Mexico-based organization has acquired and preserved more than 465 historic sites across the United States.
A backhoe operator stumbled upon the prehistoric burial ground in 1982. Since then, scientists have excavated 168 remarkably preserved skeletons dating to the Early Archaic period from Windover's swamp — including some of the oldest brain DNA samples ever found on the planet.
Radiocarbon dating of these bones goes back as far back as 8,120 years, thousands of years before the Great Pyramids of Egypt were built.
The threat of land-clearing construction had encroached the renowned archaeological site the past four years, specifically single-family housing. A financially struggling landowner, the Rockledge-based Preservation and Education Trust (PET), nearly placed these five undeveloped housing lots accessing the National Historic Landmark on the real estate market.
More:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/12/23/windover-bog/4146659/
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