How Vero Man Was Found – And Lost Again

In 1915, the remains of a 10,000-year-old Ice Age man were found on the banks of Vero’s 27th Street canal. A team led by state geologist Elias Sellards excavated the site where “Vero Man” was discovered.

The sun was breaking through the clouds when Frank Ayers began his walk along the drainage canal that marked Vero’s northern border. Ayers had walked this same route almost every day, rain or shine, since Friend C. Gifford, one of the town’s pioneers, had discovered several unusual fossils along these banks two years before. A farmer and entrepreneur, Ayers had developed quite a local reputation as a naturalist and would spend long hours talking with his friend, retired businessman Isaac Weills, who shared his fascination with natural history. On this humid day in 1915, however, he was alone.  

As he strolled along, eyes down, Ayers suddenly noticed something protruding from the canal bank. As he bent down to get a closer look, a distinctive image began to emerge. Carefully, he brushed the dirt from what was quite clearly a human skull.

Read the entire article in the September 1998 issue