The City of SkeleBones: A 7,000 Year Old Civilization Brought To Life

            As Dr. Rachel Wentz began her education in Anthropology for her Master’s at FSU, she was introduced to the world of Windover. Although she was almost 20 years late to participate in the exhibition of Windover, she presented the fascinating skeletons with preserved brains and “funky looking” teeth.

           

Dr. Wentz was able to present her findings and background of the book to our local Central Florida Anthropological Society meeting on June 14^th at Leu Gardens. Members and visitors found the spark of interest in archeology. “This helps me appreciate what type of archeology we have in Florida”, said Heather Zimmerman .

Discovered in 1982 by Jim Swam, he brought the land where the bones were discovered for Windover Farm Homes, a complex construction site. As he and his partner Steve Vanderjat demuck ponds, they began to find large rocks which were actually human skulls.

Mr. Swam then had this site checked out and had people to observe how old these skeletons really were, coming to the conclusion that they were over 7,000 years old. Instead of a home site this became an archeology site where they began to research the skeletons.

They discovered various things such as how they were laid to rest in their grave site, how long the individual’s usual lifespan would be, and many more. However researchers could not find out what was their culture. “All we know is that they were Native Americans and originated in Asia”, said Dr. Wentz.  

The Windover researcher’s team put the site to good use, creating it into a museum of some sort on Saturdays to have the public come and see the skeleton’s site. They also created a program called ‘Have Lunch with an Archeologist’ where public school students come and learn about the site.  

As an archeologist, Dr. Wentz uses her passion as an archeologist to talk to groups such as Central Florida Anthropological Society about archeology, teach them about it, and share the interest and love of skeletons.

The audience even finds her presentations fun, even for the kids. “I love Dr. Rachel. I been to many of her presentations including one with a skeleton lecture and she came in wearing a skeleton suit.” , said Terry Hooker. 

Even as an anthropology student or not, learning about the study of skeleton bones can be interesting. Even as a Valencia student you can learn more by taking an Into to Archeology class at any Valencia College campus. You never know, you can be the next to dig up a bone in your backyard.