Richie Rosencrance, an archaeologist with Florida Atlantic University, stands over several artifacts Tuesday covered with aluminum and plastic in the main excavation pit at the Old Vero Man site in Vero Beach. Archaeologists have found what they believe to be bones from an extinct species of bison about 13,000 to 14,000 years old. The discovery was made just as the 2016 digging season is coming to a close. PATRICK DOVE/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS

By Janet Begley, Special to Treasure Coast Newspapers

VERO BEACH — Just 10 feet below the ground's surface at the Old Vero Man site, archaeologists from Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute have discovered what they believe are 13,000-year-old bones from an ancient, extinct species of bison.

The discovery was made May 1 during the final stretch of excavation efforts for 2016 at the site in Vero Beach. The site is located near the county administration building, just off Aviation Boulevard near the Vero Beach Regional Airport.

"It most certainly puts bison on the menu when we know people were here in Vero Beach at that time," said lead archaeologist Dr. Andrew Hemmings. "An 8-foot-tall bison leaves behind so much more than just a stone flake or a hearth. We couldn't have asked for a better representative species from that era."

Hemmings said the bone was found below a layer that contained material from the Pleistocene period when the last ice age was thought to have occurred. The bison was identified using an upper molar and is thought to be representative of a Bison antiquus, a direct ancestor of the American bison that roamed North America until it became extinct.

Other bones from small mammals were also found at the Old Vero Man site, along with slivers of bones from large mammals that could have come from mammoth, mastodon, sloth or bison. Pieces of charcoal and the head of a fly were discovered earlier in this year's excavation, which began in late February.

The archaeological dig is led by Harbor Branch and FAU's Department of Anthropology within the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, in partnership with the Old Vero Man Ice Age Sites Committee.

Principal investigator Dr. James Adovasio said the discovery is important because other similar examples of bison have all been found underwater, in sinkholes or streams.

"This finding is especially significant because of the meticulous documentation that has been involved," said Adovasio. "Along with the fact that bones like this have never been found on land as part of a calculated archaeological effort."

Dr. Michael B. Collins, an archaeologist at Texas State University at San Marcos, is a colleague of Hemmings and said he was happy to learn bison bones were discovered at the Old Vero Man site.

"When (geologist Dr. Elias) Sellards excavated at the site in the 1920s, he found quite a few animal bones," said Collins. "Bison is a grassland-adapted animal so almost 100 percent of their bones disintegrated after death unless they were preserved in some way. It's a huge discovery."

TO DONATE

The Old Vero Ice Age Sites Committee is seeking donations to analyze important bones and artifacts that have been found at the site during the past three excavations.

To donate, go to https://www.crowdrise.com/oldveroiceagesitesco or www.oviasc.org for more information.