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The Burns Site, located in Cape Canaveral, Florida, is an ancient burial mound that presents a unique archaeological puzzle characterized by its distinctive mortuary practice known as 'radial burials.' This paper explores the origins and significance of radial burials within the broader framework of indigenous mortuary practices in Florida, from the Late Archaic through the Malabar II period (750 – 1565 AD). The research investigates and cross-references previous studies on ancient burial mounds in the Southeastern United States using quantitative and qualitative analysis. The study aims to gain insights into the cultural, social, and historical contexts that shaped the Burns Site by comprehensively examining burial patterns across Florida and the Southeastern United States, including Louisiana, Georgia, and North and South Carolina. The study highlights a correlation between the burial pattern and the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex, evident through physical evidence such as copious amounts of lightning whelk and other symbolism found at the radial burial sites. The research aims to prove that the radial pattern did not emulate the spoke of a wheel but the culturally significant lightning whelk shell and its fundamental counterclockwise spiral shape. Analysis based on the Attributes Table concluded that the radial burial practice is a uniquely Florida Indigenous burial practice found in mounds made from coastal elements between 500 AD - 1565 AD. The findings revealed frequent similarities between artifact assemblages in radial mound sites and Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Sites.

Starch grain residue analysis was conducted on 18 artifacts collected in 2021 from the archaeological site 8BR158 on the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This paleoethnobotanical analysis investigates plant use by the pre-historic inhabitants of the Central Coast of Florida where there is a lack of archaeobotanical research. The starches recovered from the archaeological artifacts were studied in order to identify plants used for culinary and/or medicinal purposes. Wild plants commonly found in Florida, such as acorn (Quercus), were identified in this study that were used for food resources. Domesticated plants such as maize and beans were also identified in this study, which was an unexpected finding. This research contributes information on the relationship between pre-historic plants and the pre-historic inhabitants of the Cape Canaveral area.

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