Old Vero Man not as old as originally thought after archaeologists analyze artifacts

VERO BEACH — Although the East Coast of Florida near Vero Beach was inhabited by many types of prehistoric animals during the last Ice Age, it seems early man did not appear until much later.

That’s the conclusion of archaeologists involved in a four-year dig at the Old Vero Ice Age Site along the Main Relief Canal in Vero Beach.

Hundreds came to the Emerson Center in Vero Beach on Saturday to hear lead archaeologist James Adovasio describe some of the items found during the digs and their relevance to a theory proposed by Florida State geologist Elias Sellards in 1916 that humans lived side by side with the extinct late Ice Age mammals.

Sellards had uncovered projectile points from the tips of weapons in the Old Vero site that he thought indicated man and animals had existed together about 14,000 years ago.

“When Sellards conducted his excavations, he found some bone projectile points which he claimed were directly associated to the remains of Vero Man,” Adovasio said.

Adovasio said one of the projectile points was made accessible to us from the Florida Museum of National History.

"We took a small section of the center of that point and subjected it to radio carbon dating," he said. "Theoretically, if it was actually as old as Sellards claimed, it would have in fact been more than 11,000 years old, and similar to the age of those extinct animals. As it turns out, that projectile point is less than 7,000 years old.”

MORE: Excavation at Old Vero Man site to continue in 2017

Adovasio said he’s not disappointed to learn that the bulk of human activity at the Old Vero Man site occurred much later in time than scientists had hoped or imagined.

“I never anticipated that we would be able to document another Windover,” said Adovasio, referring to a famous archaeological site in Titusville that contained skeletal remains from 6,000 to 5,000 BC. “But I am excited that we have been able to direct date so many types of prehistoric animals. Sellards was dead right that Ice Age animals and humans were contemporaries somewhere in Florida, even if he had misinterpreted the evidence at the Old Vero site itself."

Overall, 53 species of mammals were identified at the Old Vero Man site, and 20 of those are now extinct.

Also discovered were small fragments of textiles that early man was known to use when burying the dead under bodies of water. This discovery will be studied further if future excavations take place in Vero Beach, something that could happen in the next few years once more funds are raised, said Randy Old, chairman of Old Vero Ice Age sites.

Sandra Rawls, who coordinates volunteers for the Old Vero Ice Age sites committee, said the discoveries made at the site during the excavations will change the history books.

MORE: New excavation to begin at Old Vero Man site

“It answers the question Sellards raised,” Rawls said. “We figured out that human beings weren’t here quite as long as he thought.”

John Irons, an amateur archaeologist from Titusville and a member of the Indian River Archaeology Society in Brevard County, said he enjoyed learning about the finds at the Old Vero Man site from Adovasio.

“It was very informative,” said Irons. “He presented a lot of information clearly and concisely, and I thought the photographs were a great way to see what was uncovered at the site.”

Adovasio will present the Vero Beach findings during the 83rd annual meeting of the Society of American Archaeology that takes place this week in Washington, D.C. More than 3,000 archaeologists will meet to learn more information about recent discoveries throughout the world.