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FL AIM statement and more on Pompano Beach
Workers uncover possible Native American bones under A1A in Pompano
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cbones02may02.story?coll=sfla%2Dhome%2Dheadlines
By Shannon O'Boye
Staff Writer
May 2, 2002
POMPANO BEACH -- Early Tuesday morning, construction workers laying conduit
under Ocean Boulevard thought they saw human bones. But they decided to fill in
the hole, pour concrete over it and keep working.
A city engineering inspector who heard the story several hours later from a few
of the men spent a sleepless night wrangling with the idea and then took the
information to the Broward Sheriff's Office on Wednesday morning.
"I couldn't believe they didn't tell me [earlier], so I did what I had to do,"
said Bill Kopenski, the inspector. "It could have been somebody's brother or
mother or sister. It could have been a murder, and that really upset me."
After a full day of digging and shifting, deputies and historic conservationists
found human remains, most likely of a Native American,
buried deep beneath the seaside road, said Chris Eck of the Broward County
Historic Commission.
It is hard to tell how long the bones have been buried under the road, but
experts estimated at least 100 or 200 years.
"The staining of the bones indicates they've been buried a long time," Eck said.
"And the wear on the teeth we found shows it's likely a Native American, someone
who ate food with grainy material in it."
Eck said Native Americans used to bury their dead close to the ocean because it
was one of the few dry spots before drainage projects cleared the way for
development within the past 100 years.
The bones were found in the 1400 block of South Ocean Boulevard, one block from
Indian Mound Park, an ancient Indian burial ground used for ceremonies by the
Tequestas, the Tallucas and the Seminoles.
Deputies shut down one block of Ocean Boulevard, the section of State Road A1A
that runs through Pompano Beach, about 9 a.m. Wednesday. They detoured drivers
to Commercial Boulevard to the south and Atlantic Boulevard to the north. Ocean
Boulevard remained closed overnight.
Sheriff's Office spokesman Jim Leljedal said the construction workers made a lot
of work for deputies and conservationists by covering up their find.
"If they had told us when they found the bones, we could have taken one to the
medical examiner and asked them if it was human," said Leljedal. "It would have
been much easier.
"There was no criminal intent," he said. "It was just an error on their part."
Detective Glenn Bukata said investigators used a backhoe to tear up the
southbound lane of Ocean Boulevard and removed the debris in layers. The
construction workers from Weekley Asphalt Paving Inc. of Weston helped them home
in on the bones' exact location: about four feet under ground.
Once they had a 20-foot hole that was several feet deep, Bukata slipped into a
tan jumpsuit, donned a hard hat and thick boots, and dropped into the hole.
He pulled up several bones totaling about 30 percent of a body, said John
Maseman, director of the South Florida Conservation Center.
Crime scene investigators joined in by scooping up the dirt, concrete, rock and
sand with a bucket, then pouring it through a sifter to look for more artifacts.
They found at least one piece of pottery.
The operation began about 9 a.m. and did not wrap up until 6 p.m.
The bones were turned over to the medical examiner, who has to confirm that the
bones are ancient. Then they will be given to the state archaeologist, Dr. James
Miller.
Eck said Miller's staff in the state Division of Historic Resources will work
with a group of Native American advisers to determine where the bones should be
reburied.
Eck does not anticipate any more excavation at the site in Pompano Beach that
would prevent the construction project from continuing. "You don't want to go
looking for something to disturb if it's not being bothered by what you're doing
in the [present]," he said. "Letting things lie as they are is always
preferable."
However, the discovery will be marked on maps so that future construction and
building projects can be monitored to see if more remains turn up.
Shannon O'Boye can be reached at soboye@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356- 4597.
Copyright © 2002, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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