OLD VERO SITE
ANCIENT BEGINNINGS
Archaeological digs indicate Vero may have been
home to some of North America’s earliest humans
18
Vero’s beginnings are rooted
deep in ancient history. The first
indications that people visited
the area thousands of years ago
were discovered when human bones were
uncovered in 1915 and 1916. And from
2014 to 2017, four archaeological excavations
further explored this presence and
the importance of the Old Vero Site. When
did these people first arrive? This question,
like Vero Beach, is 100 years old.
At the peak of the last Ice Age 20,000
years ago, a 2-mile-high glacier covered
the continent 1,000 miles to the north.
Vero was almost 400 feet above sea level
City of Vero Beach 1919-2019 VeroBeach100.org
then, compared with 20 feet today, and the
ocean’s shore was 30 miles to the east of
its current location. The area was a grassy
plain with few trees and sparse water.
However, a wetland existed that attracted
Ice Age megafauna that roamed
the land — mammoths, mastodons, sabre
tooth cats, huge sloths and giant armadillos.
By 6,000 years ago, the glacier had
melted and the sea level rose, creating the
Indian River and today’s shoreline.
In 1914, pioneer developer Herman
Zeuch had the Main Canal dug, which
became part of a drainage system, to keep
much of Vero from being a marshland. Cut- >>
BY RODY JOHNSON
Field archaeologists
work under the
weatherport at
the Old Vero Site
identifying items
found during the
2017 excavation
season that ran from
January to May.
Vero gained fame the
world over for Sellards’
discoveries. In the
more exaggerated
newspaper reports
the site was dubbed
the Garden of Eden;
Adam and Eve had
been found.
OVIASC
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