A 400-year-old Native American pot lay buried beneath a Spanish mission in Florida

University of Florida students unearthed a nearly 400-year-old Native American clay pot intact at Mission San Francisco de Potano in Gainesville, Florida.

The pot was likely made by a member of the Indigenous Potano Timucua tribe during the 17th-century Spanish mission.

The intact pot is rare because buried pottery of that age is almost always broken; this is the first intact pottery vessel found on land in archaeologist Gifford Waters' career.

The pot is small, smooth grey, palm-sized, and undecorated; its style is unlike pottery seen at other Florida sites.

Slight scorch marks suggest the pot may have been used near a fire, possibly for warming food.