Archaeologists Investigate Florida’s Cape Canaveral

News February 13, 2019

(NASA, Public Domain)
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Cape Canaveral erosion
(NASA, Public Domain)

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA—WFTV News reports that team members of the Cape Canaveral Archaeological Mitigation Project are recording sites and rescuing artifacts vulnerable to destruction by hurricanes and storm surge on central Florida’s east coast. “Due to climate change and sea level rise, a lot of these sites are going to be eroded in 20 to 25 years,” said Thomas Penders, cultural resources manager for the 45th Space Wing. The team members are creating a 3-D map of the historic spacecraft launch complexes at Cape Canaveral, and examining a Native American burial mound at the Air Force Station with ground-penetrating radar. A 1960s missile graveyard and a fish company are also located on the property. “The fact that you have all of these things on top of each other in time is really interesting, as an archaeologist, to explore,” explained Lori Collins of the University of South Florida. To read about another recent discovery in Florida, go to “Afterlife Under the Waves.”

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