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Windover Bog

In: Historical Events

Submitted By tcushion
Words 409
Pages 2
Theresa Cushion
Professor Miner
25 March 2012
Windover Pond Discovered by accident in 1982 by a backhoe operator during construction for a housing development, Windover Pond in Florida is one of the world’s greatest archaeological finds (The Brevard Museum). Located near Titusville in Brevard County, Windover Pond is an ancient, shallow bog pond that was a burial ground for more than 200 Native Americans who lived in the area about 8,000 years ago. (The Brevard Museum). Radiocarbon dating tests indicated the oldest skeletons were buried 8,100 years ago, and the youngest was placed in the ground 6,900 years ago, 3,000 to 4,000 years before the Egyptian pyramids (Suriano, Robert). Windover dates an advanced culture in North America that precedes any previously discovered anywhere else in the world (Suriano, Robert) and the burial site is a planned community cemetery (Nielson, Paula J.). Most significant of the discoveries at Windover Pond are the cloth fragments, the oldest cloth ever found in the Western hemisphere (Suriano, Robert). The cloth was made from the leaves of sabal palm, and the pieces reveal five different methods of fabric making, although no evidence of a loom was found (Suriano, Robert). Some of the fabrics are woven as tightly as a cotton T-shirt, and others are made more loosely twined into blankets, capes, and toga-like garments (Suriano, Robert). A total of ninety-one brains have been recovered from the site, the first time that intact human brains had been preserved, and these brains hold what would seem to be the oldest group of human DNA ever found anywhere in the world (Suriano, Robert). The DNA recovered from the Windover people shows that they were not related to modern Native American peoples (Nielson, Paula J.) At Windover, more ancient human remains were discovered than the total of all others found previously in the New World, and they were the oldest (Jones, Bill). The Windover Pond produced the largest and oldest group of human remains, and the most complete insight of an ancient culture ever found (Jones, Bill).

References
The Brevard Museum of History and Natural Science. “The Windover Story.” Web. 25 Mar. 2012.
Jones, Bill. Anthropology and Archaeology of The Americas. “Bye Bye, Beringia.” Web. 24 Mar. 2012.
Nielson, Paula J. Anthropology @suite101.com. “The American Bog People of Windover.” Web. 25 Mar. 2012.
Suriano, Robert. Florida Today. “Archaeology finds new picture of Paleo Indians.” Web. 24 Mar. 2012.

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