Native American Remains Recovered in Florida

PALM BEACH, FLORIDA—The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports that human remains estimated to be 2,500 to 3,000 years old were recovered during utility work on the property of Duck’s Nest, a lakefront home built on the barrier island of Palm Beach in 1891. “We were sifting the dirt coming out of the trench,” recalled archaeologist Bob Carr of the Archaeological and Historical Conservancy. The bone fragments, discovered at two sites about 60 feet apart, include the remains of an adult and child who are believed to have been members of a group known as the Jeaga tribe, described in the seventeenth century by Spanish explorer Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda. Prehistoric artifacts had previously been discovered at the site. “It’s probably one of the richest areas in Southeast Florida for fishing and hunting,” Carr noted. The Florida Division of Historic Resources and the Seminole Tribe of Florida oversaw the recovery of the bones, which will be reinterred near where they were found. To read about Muscogee Nation leaders and archaeologists working together to preserve indigenous identity in the Panhandle, go to "Letter from Florida: People of the White Earth."