Florida archaeology students are uncovering the behavior of indigenous people more than 2,000 years ago in the shadow of a location known for modern space exploration.
University of Central Florida students and faculty are currently excavating the DeSoto site at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and the location of America’s iconic launch pad into space.
The archaeological site dates back to the Malabar II Period, according to a report by Fox News, that lasted from roughly 900 to 1565 A.D. The site is made up of “black earth midden,” meaning it sits atop layers of ancient refuse.
“Middens ‘contain the garbage that people left behind after undertaking their daily tasks,'” Sarah “Stacy” Barber, an anthropology professor at the University of Central Florida, told the news outlet.
“Obtaining and preparing food” was a primary daily activity for the people who lived there, she said.
“They didn’t farm,” she said, though another researcher has found that “at least some people in the region had access to ground corn, which was being farmed by the Indigenous people of North Florida.”
According to the outlet:
Instead of farming, Native Americans in the area largely relied on local resources, though some people in the region had access to imported foods such as corn and beans. They also dined on seafood, including shark, fish, clams and other local species — remains of which have turned up in the midden.
“We have found the refuse of many dozens of meals,” the archaeologist said. “We know from our finds this year at DeSoto that turtles, shark, black drum, and coquina clams were on the menu.”
The students and faculty have also found pottery sherds, tools such as conch shell hammers and shark tooth knives used to prepare food, as well as “the remnants of at least one hearth where food was likely cooked.”
The finds also indicate the Native Americans relied on local resources for centuries, while also having contact with other tribes.
“Our sites show an abundance and diversity of food, time to produce pottery when needed, and the opportunity to either travel or interact with people in distant regions,” Barber said.
She added, “It was probably a comfortable, beachfront lifestyle.”
Cape Canaveral became the U.S.’s premiere rocket launch site when its first rocket Bumper 8 lifted off there in 1950. It was renamed Cape Kennedy from 1963 for a ten-year period in tribute to slain president John F. Kennedy, one of space exploration’s strongest advocates.
The archaeologist was struck by the location in the way the distant past is also the location of the present and future of American exploration.
“There are few places in the world highlighting the role of the past in the present than somewhere like Cape Canaveral, where the future of space flight literally sits atop and among Native American landscapes,” she said.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.