He contacted Florida State University’s anthropology department.

The young professor who came out to look at the site was Glen Doran, an archaeologist who specialized in Florida prehistory.

He examined the remains and recognized immediately that they were Native American.

He estimated they were at least a thousand years old — possibly more.

But even that early estimate pointed toward something scientifically significant, because ancient Native American burial sites in Florida are rare, and intact ones are rarer still.

The problem was money.