Dakota Brady said he was with some friends when they found human remains on a Florida beach following severe beach erosion from Nicole. “We know that this is a burial ground.”
The remains are likely from an Ais burial ground, said Chief Deputy John Budensiek.
Budensiek said investigators found six human skulls as of Thursday afternoon. The bones are fragmented, so they don’t have a total count of remains.“It was just surreal. Just to think that this is something that we walk on on a daily basis and nobody knows. Everybody’s oblivious to it," Brady said."This is a burial ground. Yes, it’s a public beach, but there’s history to it and now you see it.”“This actually is a site we’ve been to before,” Budensiek said.
In 2012, Hurricane Sandy caused beach erosion that unearthed ancient Native American bones that were first exposed by hurricanes Frances and Jeanne in 2004, according to TCPalm archives. Budensiek said after carefully removing the remains, the Medical Examiner's Office will send them to the Florida Department of State, Division of Historical Resources, Bureau of Archaeological Research. Testing is usually done to verify the bones' origin.
The burial ground is federally protected and passersby are prohibited from digging up other remains, pottery or jewelry of the Ais tribe. Mauricio La Plante is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow him on Twitter @mslaplantenews or email him at [email protected].
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