Dredging up the Past

Early April has always been the time of year for surprises. When the days of winter are short, and the north winds howl, the islanders of Marco, Goodland, and the Isles of Capri share our brand of paradise with visitors from around our country and around the world. Winter is when islanders settle into a very busy but predictable pattern and lifestyle, but as April claims the calendar, anything can happen, and on very rare occasions, something extraordinary will surface from beyond the past.

In ancient Egypt, the scrolls of history reveal that during the time of the construction of the great pyramids, the Egyptians on the River Nile were busy digging underwater and reclaiming land with dredging machines. This was to allow larger stone-carrying vessels to move through deeper water. In Bagdad, a book with the name Ingenious Devices described a “grab machine” which was used on the Tigris River to recover sunken river barges or underwater treasures that were lost during ancient earthquakes. During the Renaissance era, Leonardo da Vinci illustrated a sketch depicting a dredging machine. Steam engine-driven dredging machines were working on the Suez Canal during the late 1800s, and the historical artifacts these underwater excavation devices brought to the surface are now in museums across the Middle East.

In early November, a modern dredging machine and work barges began excavating the Hideaway Beach Lagoon near the northwestern face of Marco Island. The dredge, which operates like a giant underwater vacuum cleaner, digs into the sandy seafloor and pumps sand and seawater through a large pipe onto an area where the run-off sand can make an island sandbar bigger; and where the dredge is working, a lagoon deeper.

During the first part of the dredging operation, the machines were digging underwater at relatively shallow areas. In archeological excavations, shallow digging reveals historical artifacts from the not-so-distant past, whereas deeper digging discovers articles and even relics from very long ago.

Throughout the recent months, as the sandbar became bigger and the lagoon deeper, the dredge began pumping up sediment layers that have been underwater and under the seafloor for several thousand years. The first evidence of ancient inhabitants began arriving out of the gushing dredge pipe in the form of camel teeth. Camels, it is widely known, were living in Florida when the peninsula rose out of the Gulf of Mexico 25 million years ago and were flourishing during that era along with rhinoceroses, bear dogs, giant tree sloths, and sabretooth tigers.

After the skull and over-sized fangs of a saber tooth came out of the dredging pipe in early February, University of Florida archeologist Dr. Terry Chase came to Marco to investigate further possible artifacts or relics.

As the dredge was digging deeper in early March, the first of the fossilized Megalodon teeth began to appear. The teeth from the ancient shark in early March were measuring seven to eight inches in length but soon afterward began to reach a new benchmark of over 10 inches. Megalodon teeth, however, are not rare and are often found throughout Florida and the coastal regions of the eastern seaboard.

Dr. Chase has been collecting and cataloging all of the ancient artifacts coming out of the dredge and the underwater dig, but the latest relics to emerge from the dredging efforts have made a historical breakthrough that is unsurpassed.

“The camel teeth, the sabretooth remains, and even the very large Megalodon shark teeth have all been very exciting finds for the modern archeological world,” Dr. Chase explained during a recent interview, “But now at maximum depth, the dredge has reached sediment layers from beyond the Miocene period. In fact, we now believe the digging efforts have begun to reach into a limestone layer that has been separating the Miocene era from the Paleozoic. We have now found the bones of what we believe to be a Spinosaurus. This was the largest ocean-going dinosaur and certainly one of the most fearsome creatures to have ever lived on the earth. The Spinosaurus bones appear to have been fossilized when the dinosaur-killing meteor struck the earth and created the aquatic basin that is now the Gulf of Mexico.”

Jurassic archeologists from the Smithsonian in Washington DC have now joined Dr. Chase in his efforts to recover the ancient dinosaur skeleton that is currently under supervision by Florida state officials. 

“We now have certified archeological divers who are examining the fossilized bones found in the Marco Lagoon. The skeletal system seems to be well persevered in the uncovered layer of thin limestone and has been measured at over one hundred feet long. The Spinosaurus is the largest of all the sea-going dinosaurs. The discovery of this very rare and large dinosaur under the Marco Island lagoon, along with other ancient relics, is leading scientists to believe that much more archeological treasure is waiting in nearby waterways or under the islands of the Ten Thousand Island archipelago.”

Dr. Chase believes that the entire skeleton of the Spinosaurus can be exhumed and successfully reassembled. The ancient skeleton, when complete, will appear as a large reptile with a long sharp snout, terrible teeth, and wing-like flippers. Dr. Chase believes similar skeletons have been unearthed in ancient China by farmers and these incredible skeletons were the inspirations for the legends of dragons.

Dr. Chase, the Marco Beach Boys and Girls, and all of the other scientists on the Marco scene wish to rely upon one final fact about uncovering one of the largest ocean-going dinosaurs and the terrible-looking creature that was the origin of dragons.

The above tale is a total work of fiction and a product of the overactive imagination of a Marco Beach Boy! April Fool Marco Island, Goodland, and Isles of Capri!