Ancient village discovered in downtown Miami

Archaeologists uncovered an ancient Native American village that could date back 2,000 years in Miami.

It's being called one of the most significant prehistoric sites in the US. The Miami Herald reports that over the past several months, archaeologists have dug up eight large circles made up of uniformly carved holes in the limestone. These could be foundation holes for Tequesta Indian dwellings.

Tequesta Indians occupied an area along the southeastern coast of Florida near the Miami River, but many of their villages were deserted by the late 18th century.

The site falls inside a designated archaeological zone and was originally being cleared for an entertainment complex last year. Chairman of Miami's Historic and Environmental Preservation Board William Hopper told NPR news that preservation officials have called for a redesign of the project to save as much of the site as possible.

'It wasn't really until probably September that we began to get an idea of the significance of the find there. We want to see what we can do to preserve as much of that as we can, so that people in future generations can have an understanding of what happened there at the mouth of the river.'