Ice Age infant remains found in central Alaska

A study published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals the discovery of two infant burials in central Alaska dating back more than 11,000 years ago, making it the youngest human remains ever found in the North American Arctic and the first evidence showing the earliest Americans performing complex burials.

Researchers of the study, led be Ben Potter of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, made the discovery in late 2013 during an excavation of the Upward Sun River site, which was likely occupied by the Denali people who inhabited central Alaska 12,000 years ago.

The team gathered that one of the individuals died shortly after birth while the other was a late-term fetus. The infants’ teeth and bones, as well as artifacts linked with the burial, were found approximately 40 centimeters below the site of a 2010 excavation, where the cremated remains of another Ice-Age child were found.

The burial site may reveal a cultural link between residents of North America and far eastern Asia. While the custom of burying a family member in or near living quarters may be rare today, it was a common practice in prehistoric times. “Several children have been found buried below 13,000-year-old houses in far eastern Russia, and the people of Çatalhöyük, one of the world’s first urban centers, in what is now Turkey, buried their dead just below their homes,” reported National Geographic.

Additionally, the style of the burial site is similar to other infant burials of the past, such as a Clovis site in Montana and a site on Ushki Lake in Siberia. According to the Smithsonian, other Denali sites were similar to those of the Dyuktai culture, which “originated in Siberia and crossed an ancient land bridge from Beringia to North America.” Genetic analysis might reveal how closely these children were related to each other and to the people of prehistoric North America.

The Smithsonian also reports that Potter and his team are currently pursuing that genetic analysis. “It would help resolve issues about who the Ice Age people living in eastern Beringia were related to and how they fit into the puzzle of the peopling of the Americas south of the ice sheets,” said Michael Waters, an archaeologist at Texas A&M University who was not affiliated with the study.

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