Rebecca Dodds thought she had found a whalebone or something similar among the shells, so she tossed it into her bag. Later, she discovered that it was actually a human jaw. She wondered if it belonged to a victim of Hurricane Ian or a missing person.
The Chronicle Ehco Crime News reported that an archaeologist suggested that the jaw could have belonged to an indigenous person who lived in the area centuries ago.
Sara Ayers-Rigsby, the regional director of the Florida Public Archaeology Network, said that the main concern was whether the jaw was recent and related to a possible crime. She said that only law enforcement could determine that.
She also said that if the investigators concluded that the remains were older than 75 years, state archaeologists would collaborate with the local tribes’ descendants to identify them and decide their fate.
Dodds said that she still couldn’t believe what she had found. She said that she was curious but also sad. She hoped that they could find out who the person was and their story.”