Windover Archaeological Site
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Windover Archeological Site
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| Location | Brevard County, Florida |
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| Nearest city | Titusville |
| Coordinates | 28°32′19″N 80°50′36″W / 28.53861°N 80.84333°WCoordinates: 28°32′19″N 80°50′36″W / 28.53861°N 80.84333°W |
| Area | 1.3 acres (0.53 ha) |
| NRHP reference # | 87000810 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | April 20, 1987 |
| Designated NHL | May 28, 1987 |
The Windover Archeological Site is an Early Archaic (6000 to 5000 BC) archaeological site and National Historic Landmark in Brevard County near Titusville, Florida, USA, on the central east coast of the state. Windover is a muck pond where skeletal remains of 168 individuals were found buried in the peat at the bottom of the pond. The skeletons were well preserved because of the characteristics of peat. In addition, remarkably well-preserved brain tissue has been recovered from many skulls from the site. DNA from the brain tissue has been sequenced. The collection of human skeletal remains and artifacts recovered from Windover Pond represent among the largest finds of each type from the Archaic Period.
The Windover dig site is a small pond, about .25 acres (1,000 m2) in area, that has held water continuously since sometime between 9000 and 8000 BC. It is next to the Atlantic coastal ridge about 5 miles (8 km) from Cape Canaveral. As the sea level was considerably lower 7,000 to 8,000 years ago than it is today, the pond originally sat above the water table, and was filled only by rainfall and runoff from the surrounding land. At that time the pond had a relatively thin layer of peat under a thin layer of water. The subsequent rise in sea level raised the local water table, and in more recent times the pond has been fed by groundwater as well as rainfall. In 1984 the pond had a thick layer of peat, with five strata described by the archaeologists who excavated the pond. The peat in the center of the pond was covered by 6 feet (2 m) of water.
The site was discovered in 1982 when work began on building a road across the pond in a new housing development, Windover Farms. A backhoe operator noticed several skulls in the bucket of his machine. The sheriff and medical examiner determined that the burials were not recent. The local forensic expert originally believed he was examining modern Caucasian remains. The developers, Jack Eckerd and Jim Swann, halted construction at the pond and called in archaeologists. Radiocarbon dating on two bones excavated from the pond by the backhoe, paid for by the developers, yielded dates of 7,210 years and 7,320 years Before Present, establishing the importance of the find. The developers changed their development plans in order to leave the pond intact and donated $60,000 worth of pumping equipment to drain the pond for excavation.
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