Work Crew Finds Pre-Columbian Bones
POSTED: 7:55 pm EDT July 22, 2008
UPDATED: 11:28 pm EDT July 22, 2008
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- St. Augustine is known for its history and sightseeing, but most sightseers don't get a chance to check out any thing quite like what a construction crew found in the city on Monday.
Construction crews digging on Milton Street near the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind found what are believed to be human bones that date back hundreds of years.
Construction worker Lavon Renfroe, of Kent Brothers Inc., was one of the people on site when some of St. Augustine's distant past was unearthed.
"We seen some bones and stuff like that -- shell. A lot of shell," Renfroe said.
Due to the rich history buried beneath the city's soil, a city archeologist is always on hand when digs or construction projects occur in designated archeological zones.
"We discovered a series of bones … that have the possibility of being human," said city archeologist Carl Halbrit.
Halbrit said pre-Columbian, Native American pottery was found alongside the remains at the construction site. He said the construction crew also discovered what used to be a well used by the Native Americans for drinking water.
Out of about 50 archeological projects, Halbrit said Monday was the third time they have discovered possible human remains.
The unidentified remains were found at the end of Milton Street and have since been reburied, which is required by state law.
"The state archeologist generally has us rebury any bones that have been dug out of the ground back in the location where they come from, and then we have to report what we observe in the soil profiles and cover it over with dirt," Halbrit said.
There will be no further tests as to whom the bones belong, but the area will be documented in case there is more construction done in the future.
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