Skulls in Florida Backyard Belong to Peru, Date Back to 1200

WilliamBoyd8

Active member
A swimming pool contractor in Florida unearthed skulls and pottery shards in February.

The discovery of two skulls in a Florida backyard sparked questions of intrigue and murder when they were found in January, but now investigators say the origin of the bones is even more mysterious than they thought.

The two skulls, of a 10-year-old boy and older man, date to 1200 to 1400, and show signs of being from Peru or South America, thousands of miles and a millenium from Winter Garden, Fla.

"The mystery is how they ended up there," medical examiner Jan Garavaglia said today. "We don't have any way of finding out."

Garavaglia enlisted the help of archaeologists and anthropologists from the University of Central Florida and Yale to try and trace the origins of the skulls. Researchers identified cloth items found with the bones as that of primitive slings and purses made of woven materials and non-human hair.

What the researchers cannot figure out, and Garavaglia says they probably will not figure out, is how the items came to buried in Florida.

Authorities suggest that the bones were taken from South America into Florida when transporting skeleton parts was a more acceptable practice; it is now against the law. A tourist with a unique keepsake, or a migrant with a relic from their culture, could have transported the skulls, she said.

"Back in the 1930s or 1940s, people would go on vacation and buy things like that, and maybe they buried them when they didn't want them anymore. Another possibility is that it used to be a migrant farm worker camp, and some cultures will bring part of their heritage with them when they leave. It could be that they were moving on and decided to bury it there," Garavaglia said.

"It was certainly a departure from the norm," Garavaglia said. "When you hold something in your hand that is that old, from 1200, it's amazing. To think about the connection back in time, that you hold in your hand what that they held in their hand. Amazing."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/skulls-found-florida-backyard-peru-date-back-1200/story?id=16343897

:)
 

Finn

Moderator
Staff member
Direct quotes from a newspiece and no poster's own commentary? My heart weeps whenever I see one of these.

"It was certainly a departure from the norm," Garavaglia said. "When you hold something in your hand that is that old, from 1200, it's amazing. To think about the connection back in time, that you hold in your hand what that they held in their hand. Amazing."
If that's the sensation you seek, Uncle Finny has a neat solution...

Go outside. Pick up the first piece of rock you see. Profit.
 

WilliamBoyd8

Active member
I'm not sure what commentary I could add to this article.

No doubt somebody will claim that ancient Incas lived in Florida.

Like those guys who claim that ancient Romans or Hebrews lived in America.

:)
 

Archaeos

Member
WilliamBoyd8 said:
Like those guys who claim that ancient Romans or Hebrews lived in America.

Whoa, wait, are you claiming that ancient Romans or Hebrews did NOT live in America :eek: Any proof for that? No? Hah, thought so. :rolleyes:
 

WilliamBoyd8

Active member
And in California, more finds:

Santa Clara County officials say a pauper's cemetery dating back more than 100 years was discovered in February by construction workers at Valley Medical Center, halting work on a new building.

Officials estimate as many as 1,450 people were buried in the hospital cemetery between 1875 until about 1935. It is believed the cemetery was in existence when the county hospital was first established in 1875.

Crews doing excavation work in early February in an area between Turner Drive and Ginger Lane, located behind the hospital off South Bascom Avenue, discovered 15 pine coffins, according to Deputy County Counsel Michael Rossi.

After making the discovery, county officials reviewed archives and discovered a map of Valley Medical Center dated 1932 which shows the graveyard for indigent and unclaimed bodies.

The county plans to hire an archeologist to examine the remains and see if there is any information to help identify the bodies. Rossi said the county clerk's office has searched all the archives and can't determine who was buried in the potters field during those years.

http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area...y-discovered-valley-medical-center?source=pkg

:)
 
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Finn

Moderator
Staff member
WilliamBoyd8 said:
I'm not sure what commentary I could add to this article.
Yet, kinda the whole point of posting the thing on a forum like this is that people could, you know, comment on it...
 

IndyJoey

Member
How do we know their origin? Could it have possibly been people who ran from their home land? Maybe they were outlaws? Maybe they were traders? But until we are positive of their origin, what can we be sure of?
 
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