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Natural Preservation of Human Brain, Warm Mineral Springs, Florida

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

William Royal  and
Eugenie Clark
William Royal
Affiliation:
Cape Haze Marine Laboratory, Placida, Fla.
Eugenie Clark
Affiliation:
Cape Haze Marine Laboratory, Placida, Fla.
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Abstract

Artifacts of Archaic types, human bones, and a partly burned log have been recovered from three layers of sediments on the floor of a shallow limestone cave now under water. The skeletal remains include a skull from Layer 2 with naturally preserved portions of brain inside. The charred log from Layer 3 produced a radiocarbon date of 8000 B.C. ± 200 years. The age of the preserved brain may not be as great as that of the log and human remains in Layer 3. The radiocarbon date is the earliest known date for man in Florida and suggests that during the early Southeastern Archaic, man lived in limestone caves in Florida when the sea level was considerably lower than at present.

Type
Facts and Comments
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , October 1960 , pp. 285 - 287
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1960

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