Florida Bog Mummies



In 1982, a backhoe operator discovered something unusual in Windover, Florida.  Bones!

Eventually, 168 individuals were brought up from the black peat that radiocarbon dated to over 7000 years ago!  They were wrapped in woven matting showing sophisticated weaving techniques. ** Source:  Similar fabric was also found in the Black Desert area in western Nevada (9,000 BP - before present.)**

"Appearance:  The skull was immediately European-like; long, narrow, very constricted behind eyes with a very prominent nose. I immediately got the impression I
was dealing with a European—probably an early Kennewick pioneer. I had no idea where this story was going at that point. The skull, the bridge of the nose is very prominent, the skull very narrow, recedes to the back—the kind I had only seen among the people of western Eurasia. Very long limbs, his lower limb segments quite long compared to the upper; and American Indians tend to be quite the opposite. They’re short limbed. We’ve got this paradox—Stone-Age object in European man [sic], after the carbon dating reports were in."


The Brevard Museum of History and Natural Science, Fl. - with a dedicated section to Windover - has not a single image or a fully visible human skull displayed on their website or in their exhibition. The hundreds of scientific publications contain incredible details on the cavities and condition of every single tooth of the 168 individuals recovered, images of every single tool, fabric piece, etc. but not a single image of a skull. Also the average height of the Windover population is dramatically taller than the Indian population of the area but it is difficult to get exact data. 


Five years after finishing the excavations Doran published his book in 2002: Windover Multidisciplinary Investigations of an Early Archaic Florida Cemetery. The book is an extremely valuable detailed collection of the information recovered, printed in large format on 393 pages. However, all images are of extremely poor quality and not a single image was printed of a human skull.  In fact, Doran might be the first anthropologist on this planet who managed to write a book where in the indexing the word “skull” is not present. Maybe he has some sort of deep seated childhood fear of human skulls after hearing too many pirate stories(another case of fear of the skull shape!)

Note from blog author:  As is the usual crime in this situation, the Feds came in and confiscated the bones and were given to a local tribe, but court battles ensued (thankfully). There is no way in this day and time that we can take all prehistoric remains to be local tribes possession until proven by DNA that they are their people. Most of these very ancient skeletons resemble no Native Americans in any way and some, like in Nevada, were there long before tribe ever arrived. 

These ancient people of Florida are a real treasure find in understanding better the true origins of the Americas and their occupants.  It is my hope that they get some puzzles solved with DNA. Any genuine remains of Native tribes are certainly theirs to protect and put to rest properly, but I can say that if I had passed on in a land and someone not of my people wanted to bury me and pray over me with their religion, I would be incensed. We owe it to let their bodies speak for them and treat them properly by the proper representatives. In the case of a people who no longer exist on the earth, then we must come to terms with respectful study and respectful rest in perhaps a memorial burial ground letting them get the proper credit for having been here long before any of us.







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