Whatever the specific chemistry — and the full characterization of the Windover pond’s preservation environment is discussed in the scientific literature of the site — the combination of waterlogging, low oxygen, and relatively moderate pH created a preservation environment that was exceptional among Florida sites and exceptional among wet archaeological sites globally.

The burials were placed into this environment within hours to days of death — the peat would have begun incorporating the bodies relatively quickly.

Being embedded in an anoxic, wet matrix before significant aerobic decomposition could occur was likely critical to the level of preservation that was eventually observed.

The bodies were not naturally mummified in the sense that desert mummies are — dried by heat and aridity.

They were preserved in a fundamentally different way, by being sealed against oxygen and microbial action rather than by being desiccated.