98 Gary S. Morgan 



fossil vertebrates from Vero). Vero engendered considerable controversy 

 in the early part of this century, as it was the first fossil site in the New 

 World where human bones and artifacts were supposedly found in asso- 

 ciation with extinct Pleistocene vertebrates. The site was discovered in 

 November 1913 during excavation of an east-west drainage canal through 

 the town of Vero Beach by the Indian River Farms Company. Between 

 1913 and 1917, Isaac M. Weills and Frank Ayers collected the majority 

 of the vertebrate fossils and human remains that formed the basis for a 

 large number of publications on the site (see Ray 1957 and Weigel 1962 

 for a complete bibliography). The fossil site is located within the present 

 city limits of Vero Beach, Indian River County, Florida (center of 

 SE1/4, sec. 35, T32S, R39E, Vero Beach Quadrangle, USGS 7.5 min. 

 series; 27°39'N latitude, 80°24'W longitude), southeast of the Vero 

 Beach airport and immediately south of the Florida East Coast Rail- 

 road. The paleontological and historical significance of Vero, coupled 

 with the paucity of microvertebrate fossils in the early collections, 

 prompted Weigel to conduct extensive field work at the site during the 

 summers of 1956 and 1957. 



The fossil-bearing deposits at Vero consist of three distinct units, 

 designated from bottom to top as Strata 1, 2, and 3 by Sellards (1917) 

 and all later workers except Weigel (1962). He called them Beds 1, 2, 

 and 3. According to Weigel, the three strata are easily recognized 

 throughout the site and fill a shallow sedimentary basin approximately 

 100 m in diameter. A typical stratigraphic section at Vero and a map of 

 his various excavations within the site can be found in Weigel (1962). 

 The total thickness of strata at Vero does not exceed 3 m, of which only 

 1.5 to 2 m constitute the bone-bearing Strata 2 and 3. Stratum 1 is a late 

 Pleistocene marine shell marl referred to the Anastasia Formation by 

 Sellards (1916) that has produced no terrestrial or freshwater vertebrate 

 fossils. Lying above the Anastasia Formation and separated from it by 

 an erosional unconformity is Statum 2, consisting of white beach sands 

 at the base, grading upward into coarse and fine brown stained sands 

 that become darker toward the top of the bed. The vertebrate fossils 

 from Stratum 2 are heavily permineralized and include 17 species of 

 extinct Pleistocene megafauna. The contact between Strata 2 and 3 is 

 horizontal, and is sharply demarcated by the contrast between the rela- 

 tively dark brown upper portion of Stratum 2 and the relatively light 

 colored sands of Stratum 3. Stratum 3 consists of loose white sands, 

 muck, and peat, banded with decayed plant material. Bones from this 

 layer are extremely abundant, stained very dark brown, and are barely 

 permineralized. In his excavations, Weigel found no remains of extinct 

 vertebrates in Stratum 3, except at his Locality 1, which corresponds 

 with the area where much of the early fossil material was collected by 



