Ancient Remains Found In Downtown Miami

[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

Link to article Archaeologists excavating two American Indian burial sites in downtown Miami say they have found hundreds of remains piled in limestone fissures, some of them stacked in stone burial boxes.

 

The remains are at least five centuries old and likely are the ancestors of the Tequesta tribe that met explorer Juan Ponce de Leon in 1513 when he claimed the land for Spain, archaeologists said.

 

"The idea of a crypt-like structure, that's never been observed anywhere in South Florida before," said Robert Carr, director of the Archaeological and Historical Conservancy.

 

Bone piles were discovered in at least five fissures on the former site of railroad magnate Henry Flagler's 19th-century Royal Palm Hotel, Carr said Thursday. The site is near a burial mound that was destroyed more than 100 years ago...