LIVING HISTORY
Grandpierre hopes the dig will find more items like the mastodon toe
digit bone she is holding.
33
humans inhabited coastal Florida 13,000 years ago, it means they
might have migrated west from Europe.
Other scientists, notably Ales Hrdicka, a curator at the Smithsonian
Institution, debunked Sellards’ findings. He said the Vero
bones were found in an unscientific manner and it couldn’t be
proved they were “in place” with bones of Ice Age animals. The
matter went unresolved for decades.
Now, some 21st century scientists such as Purdy and others from
UF and its Museum of Natural History, support doing a full-scale
excavation of the site. The local committee is also working with
eminent archeologist Dr. James Adovasio, who discussed the site’s
challenges and possibilities during an April 12 appearance in Vero.
Adovasio has done excavations in North America, Ukraine,
the Czech Republic and Israel. His work at the Meadowcraft
Rockshelter in Pennsylvania is now said to have set the standards
for archeological study. He published findings 40 years ago that
ancient people inhabited the site at least 16,000 years ago.
Like Sellards, his findings had been challenged by conventional
science. Some considered Adovasio’s assertions to be “archeological
heresy.”
Grandpierre said the first excavation of the Vero site will
probably take place during the next dry season. It will be closed
before the rainy season begins, since seepage from groundwater
could destroy material.
The project has the support of the Indian River County Historical
Society, the Cultural Council, the Vero Beach Historic
Preservation Committee, the Indian River Land Trust, the Florida
Humanities Council and the Emerson Center. Volunteers working
with scientists will be invited to participate in the digs.
“We want people to experience this as a community adventure
in archeology,”” Grandpierre said.
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