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Gainesville Sun Asa Randall, a UF Ph.D. student who found the bones, estimates they are 500 to 700 years old. An archaeologist from the University of Florida on Monday found human remains estimated to be hundreds of years old. Marion County Sheriff's Deputy Philip Minton noted in his report that he was called to Silver Glen Recreation area at 5251 N. Highway 19 in Silver Springs in reference to a suspicious incident. Asa Randall, an archaeologist employed at the university, told Minton that while conducting a precursory dig he found human bones, which he is required by law to report. The archaeologist estimated the bones are between 500 to 700 years old. He based his estimate on the depth of the burial site and the type of soil in which the remains were located. Randall told the deputy that the limestone the bones were found in had been in place for at least 500 years. The deputy wrote in his report that the excavation site was approximately 3 1/2 feet deep by 2 feet wide. The bones were removed from the site, according to officials. Randall could not be reached Tuesday for comment. A biography online states that he has a bachelor's degree in archaeological studies from Boston University, a master's in anthropology from the University of Florida and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology at UF. The website notes his early research "centered on the technology and mobility practices of Paleoindian and Early Archaic societies (12,000-9,000 years ago) along Alabama's middle Tennessee River Valley." It also states that "in 2003, Asa joined Ken Sassaman's long-term project investigating the histories of Middle to Late Archaic (ca. 7,000-4,000 years ago) communities along the middle St. Johns River Valley in northeast Florida." Presently, the website states, "Asa's research along the middle St. Johns continues. His fieldwork is currently centered on the preceramic Archaic shell works at the Silver Glen Run complex, which affords an unparalleled opportunity to reconstruct the emergence of multiple shell mounds in place."
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