LIVING HISTORY
Vero’s
bIG dIG
Work begins to uncover Ice Age
fossils at what’s hailed as the
most significant archaeological
site in the Western Hemisphere
30
It’s been almost a century since the Vero
Man bones were uncovered near a newly
dug drainage canal. Later, having been
dismissed by skeptics as recent remains,
the fossils were boxed up and forgotten.
A few years ago, however, an amateur collector
named James Kennedy uncovered a
bone near the Vero Man site that had a carving
of an ancient animal on it. Obviously, the
carving was the work of humans. Scientists
authenticated it as an Ice Age relic at least
13,000 years old, a solid clue that humans must
have lived here in ancient times, not just a few
thousand years ago.
Dr. Barbara Purdy, anthropology professor
emerita at the University of Florida, calls the
Vero site the most significant in the Western
Hemisphere. She said it’s one of only two
where human remains have been found alongside
bones of extinct animals such as mammoths
and mastodons.
Kennedy’s discovery prompted residents to
form a committee to promote and finance full
excavations of the site near the Vero Beach water
tower. Susan Grandpierre, a retired economist
and planning consultant, heads the Old
Vero Ice Age Sites Committee, which has raised
about $100,000 so far, enough to start digging.
She says she got involved when she saw the
carving Kennedy found. “When I realized it
was the oldest art in the Western Hemisphere
and that it came from Vero Beach, I knew we
had to do more,” she said.
She said fossils can be well preserved in
sites that are either very dry, such as deserts,
or very wet. The Vero site probably was a
marsh for thousands of years, she said. “The
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BY JANIE GOULD | PHOTOS BY ED DRONDOSKI
Susan Grandpierre, chairwoman of the Old Vero Ice
Age Sites Committee, adjusts a survey marker at the
archeological site near the Vero Beach municipal airport.
Above, she holds a shark tooth and a Southern Quahog
clam shell that were common along the coast.