Recently, the archaeologists have unearthed the remnants of two Ice Age infants in the Alaskan funeral ground, a find researchers call the youngest human remains from that era discovered in northern American region.
Archaeologists state that a search site situated in central Alaska might hold fascinating coverts pertinent to the first United States natives. Excavations from the Upward Sun River site, regarded as the earliest funeral ground ever located in the region, produced the cremated remains of the three years old child. The archaeologists, who unearthed his ashes around 4 years ago revealed that he boy might have died around 11,500 years ago.
After 3 years, the scientists also discovered the graves of 2 more children, this time infants. Researchers examined the remains, identifying that one of them might have died soon after being birthed. Another grave held the remains of the 12-week old child. The dead bodies were well maintained to extract and evaluate genetic information from these two rare finds.
“DNA analysis could easily unlock coverts about these children,” John Hoffecker in the College of Colorado stated.
Moreover, the study team also unearthed some ancient weapons that were buried with the infant children. These weapons, mainly made of stone and antler, were found roughly 15 ft deep in the same place where the first cremated remains of the first child were discovered 4 years ago.
“The existence of several burials inside the same historical feature has some serious implications. Probably the most common options would be that the site may have been occupied for an extended period of time than what many researchers had believed,” the National Science Foundation, which assisted in digging up the search site, stated.
“The archaeologists also discovered the long-dead remains of ground squirrels along with a fish much like a modern-day salmon inside the funeral site. This signifies that Upward Sun River was prone to happen to be a location where a minimum of one group of hunter-gatherers flocked within the summer months, when these creatures could have been more plentiful,” NSF added.