7,000-year-old Native American burial site discovered off Florida coast

VENICE, Fla. — A diver accidentally discovered an ancient Native American burial site while looking for shark’s teeth off the Florida coast.

The diver was searching for Megalodon teeth in June 2016 when he came across a human jawbone with a single smoothed molar in it. The find was reported to the state’s Bureau of Archaeological Research, which began investigating the site.

Researchers have now cordoned a submerged .75-acre section and using chopsticks and pastry brushes, divers carefully removed layers of sand and sediment to unearth a 7,000-year-old Native American burial site, the Florida Department of State announced Wednesday.

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The Manasota Key Offshore archaeological site, nearly 21 feet beneath the Gulf of Mexico and about 900 feet from shore, is remarkably preserved. Researchers have unearthed wooden tools, pieces of clothing and the remains of six separate people, and anticipate that's just the beginning.

"There's probably going to be a lot more," Ryan Duggins, with Florida's Bureau of Archaeological Research, told National Geographic."What we currently are thinking is that when an individual passed, they would have been wrapped in handwoven fibers and sunk to the bottom of the pond. A series of fire-hardened and sharpened stakes would be pounded into the pond bed around the body with the tops of those stakes protruding above the water line."

The artifacts date to the early Archaic period, about 7,000 years ago, when the area was an inland freshwater pond. At that time, the area was about 10 feet above sea level. As the sea level rose, the burial grounds were covered by the Gulf of Mexico and despite flooding, erosion and hurricanes, have remained well-preserved.

While other pond burial sites have been found throughout the state, this is the first offshore one. The unprecedented find is the only submerged burial ground in the United States. Other underwater burial sites have been discovered in Israel and Denmark.

Cox Media Group