UCF Researchers Unearth 900-Year-Old Food Remains at Cape Canaveral, Finding Hundreds of Pottery Sherds
Updated
Updated · Fox News · May 15
UCF Researchers Unearth 900-Year-Old Food Remains at Cape Canaveral, Finding Hundreds of Pottery Sherds
1 articles · Updated · Fox News · May 15
Cape Canaveral excavations at UCF’s DeSoto site uncovered food remains, tools and an unidentified bone-like object from the Malabar II Period, offering a new look at Indigenous daily life from about 900 to 1565 A.D.
Hundreds of pottery sherds, at least one hearth, conch shell hammers and shark tooth knives point to food preparation, while a complete shark vertebral column and remains of turtles, black drum and coquina clams show what people ate.
Researchers say the midden preserves refuse from many dozens of meals and suggests residents relied mainly on local seafood rather than farming, though some had access to imported foods such as corn and beans.
The finds also indicate relatively dense, well-connected communities that lived for centuries on locally sourced food with limited environmental strain; radiocarbon dating and lab analysis of plant remains are still pending.
With rising seas and uncertain funding, will Florida’s ancient Indigenous sites—and their untapped knowledge—vanish before we unlock their secrets?
How can lessons from ancient Indigenous adaptation at Cape Canaveral shape today’s climate resilience strategies worldwide?