September 7, 2008

Cool archaeological find - the oldest skeleton in North America

A couple weeks ago, I posted about an article in National Geographic about an underground labyrinth filled with stone temples and pyramids in 14 caves�some underwater. Well, it turns out that there was somebody home.
yucatan_underwater_skeleton.jpg
From National Geographic:
Oldest Skeleton in Americas Found in Underwater Cave?
Deep inside an underwater cave in Mexico, archaeologists may have discovered the oldest human skeleton ever found in the Americas.

Dubbed Eva de Naharon, or Eve of Naharon, the female skeleton has been dated at 13,600 years old. If that age is accurate, the skeleton�along with three others found in underwater caves along the Caribbean coast of the Yucat�n Peninsula�could provide new clues to how the Americas were first populated.
She opens up some interesting ideas about our origins on this landmass:
Clues from the skeletons' skulls hint that the people may not be of northern Asian descent, which would contradict the dominant theory of New World settlement. That theory holds that ancient humans first came to North America from northern Asia via a now submerged land bridge across the Bering Sea.

"The shape of the skulls has led us to believe that Eva and the others have more of an affinity with people from South Asia than North Asia," Gonz�lez explained.
Some fascinating geology as well:
The remains were found some 50 feet (15 meters) below sea level in the caves off Tulum. But at the time Eve of Naharon is believed to have lived there, sea levels were 200 feet (60 meters) lower, and the Yucat�n Peninsula was a wide, dry prairie.

The polar ice caps melted dramatically 8,000 to 9,000 years ago, causing sea levels to rise hundreds of feet and submerging the burial grounds of the skeletons. Stalactites and stalagmites then grew around the remains, preventing them from being washed out to sea.

Gonz�lez has also found remains of elephants, giant sloths, and other ancient fauna in the caves.
Cool! Posted by DaveH at September 7, 2008 7:33 PM
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