Archaeologists have discovered evidence of a 1,000-year-old civilisation at an unexpected location: Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The excavation is taking place at the DeSoto site on the Sunshine State's Atlantic coast - from where Artemis II blasted off to the Moon earlier this year.
Researchers have uncovered remains from the Malabar II Period, which spanned the years 900 to 1565 AD.
The site sits upon black earth "midden" deposits - essentially layers of ancient rubbish.
Middens "contain the garbage that people left behind after undertaking their daily tasks," said Sarah Barber, an anthropology professor at the University of Central Florida.
Prof Barber told Fox News how "obtaining and preparing food" was an important daily activity for the people who lived there.
"They didn't farm, although research by Neil Duncan has shown that at least some people in the region had access to ground corn, which was being farmed by the Indigenous people of North Florida," she said.
The ancient inhabitants instead depended heavily on what the land and sea provided.
Evidence of a 1,000-year-old civilisation is emerging right next to the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
|NASA
Their diet featured seafood such as shark, fish, clams and other marine species.
"We have found the refuse of many dozens of meals," she said. "We know from our finds this year at DeSoto that turtles, shark, black drum, and coquina clams were on the menu."
"So, ancient people fished the lagoon and the beachfront. Once we can add in the plant remains, which take longer to process in a lab, we'll know whether these animals were supplemented with plant foods like acorns and greenbriar."
Evidence suggests these ancient people also used seasonings in their cooking.
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"We have made a number of really interesting finds this year," she said.
Among the discoveries is a complete shark spine, which would have been consumed by the Native Americans.
Another find has puzzled researchers: an object that may be either a fossil or whale bone.
"We look forward to figuring out what that is," she said.
The team has also unearthed hundreds of pottery fragments and at least one cooking hearth.
The excavation is taking place at the DeSoto site on the Sunshine State's Atlantic coast
|NEIL DUNCAN
Tools for preparing food have also been recovered, including hammers made from conch shells and knives fashioned from shark teeth.
The evidence indicates the natives made deliberate dietary choices, hunting sharks and largely avoiding dolphins.
"The indigenous people of Cape Canaveral lived in relatively dense communities and relied 100 per cent on locally obtained food," Prof Barber said.
"They did it for thousands of years, and they didn't put the kind of stress on the local environment that we have in far less time."
"Our sites show an abundance and diversity of food, time to produce pottery when needed, and the opportunity to either travel or interact with people in distant regions," she added.
"It was probably a comfortable, beachfront lifestyle."