Archaeologists are poking through the muck under a boardwalk in Everglades National Park, looking for evidence of a prehistoric culture in an environment that makes the search for clues to the past especially challenging.
Work began Friday along a 0.8-mile trail around a shallow pond. When the pond was dredged in 1968 after a record drought, a park ranger noticed hundreds of artifacts atop a debris pile. The items were collected and the ranger's notes were catalogued, but the site never was excavated.
The park service archaeologist leading this week's survey hopes the dredging didn't destroy a prehistoric cultural site. Based on what was found in 1968, the data hidden by water, mud and sawgrass could be significant to our understanding of how people have lived in the Everglades.
Everglades Trail Surveyed for Cultural Artifacts
Copyright AP - Associated Press
