The collection of human skeletal remains and artifacts recovered from Windover Pond represent among the largest finds of each type from the Archaic Period.

The Windover dig site is a small pond, about 1⁄4 acre (1,000 square meters) in area, that has held water continuously since sometime between 9000 and 8000 BC.

As the sea level was considerably lower 7,000 to 8,000 years ago than it is today, the pond originally sat above the water table, and was filled only by rainfall and runoff from the surrounding land.

The subsequent rise in sea level raised the local water table and in more recent times the pond has been fed by groundwater as well as rainfall.

[3] The site was discovered in 1982 when work began on building a road across the pond in a new housing development, Windover Farms.

[4][5] The developers, Jack Eckerd and Jim Swann, halted construction at the pond and called in archaeologists.

The work was carried out under the direction of Glen Doran and David Dickel of Florida State University.

[3][7][8] The remains found included bones of males and females of all ages from infants to about 60 years, a total of 168 individuals.

As his spinal condition almost certainly meant the boy was paralyzed below the waist, this find was important for assessing the society's commitment to ensuring his survival for 15 years in a hunter-gatherer community.

[13][14] While some of the remains were mixed, about 100 undisturbed burials were found with fully articulated bones, in roughly the correct position and relationship in the body.

Thirty-seven of the graves contained woven fabrics which demonstrate a relatively complex weaving technique and indicate that the bodies had been wrapped for burial.

The state of preservation of the brain tissues allowed a determination that the bodies were buried in the peat within 24 to 48 hours after death.

Animal bones and shells found in the graves indicated that the people ate white-tailed deer, raccoon, opossum, birds, fish, and shellfish.

Similar stakes were found associated with burials at Bay West, Republic Grove, and Manasota Key Offshore.

Robin Brown notes in connection with these underwater burials that many Native American groups have a tradition that spirits of the dead are blocked by water.

[23] As recently as 1,500 to 2,000 years ago, bundled, defleshed bones were stored on a wooden platform set in the middle of a pond at Fort Center.