Manasota Key Offshore

The Manasota Key Offshore (8SO7030) is an archaeological site under 21 feet (6.4 m) of water in the Gulf of Mexico near the southwest coast of Florida.

The site contains remains of multiple humans who were buried in a freshwater pond 7,200 years ago.

Archaeologists examined the site using non-intrusive methods, including magnetometry, sub-bottom profiling and side-scan sonar.

Two of the stakes found at the site yielded radiocarbon dates of 7,200 years ago, early in the Archaic period in Florida.

The Manasota Key Offshore site is remarkable in its preservation even though it has been below sea level for close to 7,000 years.