Ice Age •

Remnants of Ice Age Infants Unearthed in Alaskan Funeral Ground

November 12, 2014 By Jason Leathers Leave a Comment

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.

Arctic Settlers infant burial site found, may give glimpse into how the pre-Ice Age dwellers once lived like

November 11, 2014 By Germaine Hicks Leave a Comment

The discovery of an infant burial site in Alaskan sand dunes provides a glimpse of how the first settlers of North America dealt with the tragedy of death of an off spring. Led by University of Alaska anthropological archaeologist Ben Potter, an international group of researchers have uncovered the mortal remains of two infants in 2013 during the excavation of the Paleolithic Upward Sun River archaeological site near the Tanana River in central Alaska.

The two infant skeletons were found positioned with their backs alongside tools and decoratively carved antlers that had been coated with ochre. The situation suggests that the infants were from hunter-gatherer families and their demise was mourned and ritualized much in the way as modern human do. The way in which the infants were buried shows that they were twins and the one which died earlier were exhumed and then buried alongside the other.

The burial pit was discovered by Dr. Potter and his team, about 15 inches below the hearth which was excavated and contained the remains of a 3-year-old child, which had been found in 2010 by the same research team. All the three specimens were dated by the excavation team to approximately 11,500 years ago and are believed to be of the earliest known remains of the North American Sub Arctic.

What the researchers found most intriguing was the difference in mortuary treatment of infants and children in the burial and cremations. The disparity in the treatment of the remains could give some clues about the way paleoindians vision of child development in terms of christening, ensoulment, or other ideological factors.

The researchers believe that cremations and the burials were probably done by the same hunter-gatherer group. This conclusion was reached on the basis of radio-carbon dating of flora and fauna found during excavation. The existence of immature squirrels and salmon in both sites hints that the infants were buried in between mid-July and early August.

Ancient Skeletons of North Americans Discovered- Scientists Claim

November 11, 2014 By Brian Galloway Leave a Comment

Archeologists found extremely significant details of the first native of North America. They came across a children’s graveyard that was fully packed with the remnants of Native Americans.

The burial ground is located at the Upward Sun River at the Central Alaska. Central Alaska is considered as the most ancient burial grounds of the North America.

Experts discovered the first burned skeleton of a young boy which is nearly 11,500 years ago in 2010. Later on, archeologists unearthed the grave of an infant who merely survived 12 weeks. Scientists have safely preserved okzthe findings. However, the experts permitted the DNA analysis of the two skeletons.

Researchers are still not sure whether the two children were relatives or not since they were buried in the same pit. They are still unaware of the exact identity of these people.

John Hoffecker, archeologist of University of Colorado stated that the genetic analysis of the skeleton would certainly reveal some worthy information.

Most of the ancient communities did not name their grave and majority of the graves of Ice Age are not conserved. Hence, it is really a difficult task for researchers to inspect the funerary practices of Stone Age culture.

Ben Potter, archeologist of University of Alaska notified that these skeletons are as if a new gateway in the life style of the ancient people.

Furthermore, researchers uncovered several weapons and articrafts along with the skeleton of these children. Thus far, these are the youngest bodies of Arctic region of North America.

Peruvian Andes: Highest Ice Age Human Settlements Found

October 24, 2014 By Jason Leathers Leave a Comment

Recently, archaeologists have found the highest-known leftovers of Ice Age human settlement in the Southern Peruvian Andes, which is believed to be roughly more than 12000 years old.

The study is published in the Science journal describing the two sites that sit higher than 4000 meters (more than 13,100 feet) above sea level and specify that humans might have acclimatized to the intense harsh climate far sooner than many researchers had predicted.

The author of the study wrote, “These sites widen the residence time of humans above 4,000 [meters above sea level] by nearly a millennium, entailing more moderate late-glacial Andean environments and greater physiological capabilities for Pleistocene humans than previously assumed.”

From around the same time period, the two sites in the Pucuncho Basin lies nearly 3,000 feet above other settlements. One site named as Pucuncho, is a workshop site filled with 260 formal tools such as stone scrapers and projectile points; it sits 14,288 feet above sea level and has been dated to 12,800 to 11,500 years ago. The second is Cuncaicha, which hosts a rock shelter lying 14,698 feet above sea level that dates back to 12,400 years and a workshop site 14,583 feet above sea level. The shelter is filled with soot-marked ceilings from campfires, rock art and sediments on the ground that include charred plant remains.

Cuncaicha also contains ceramics, chipped-stone tools, animal bones, bone beads and quartz crystals, as well as red ochre fragments. Most of the stone tools were made from the obsidian, andesite and jasper found nearby. The University of Maine, Orono researchers dated the Cuncaicha shelter using large mammal bones found near the human artifacts. The specimens were in good condition, for their age – cold, dry air might be difficult to live in, but it indeed protects dead organic matter well.

The high-altitude residents survived by hunting vicuña and guanaco (relatives of the alpaca) and taruka (an Andean deer). The bones were scattered around indicating that there were whole carcasses at the site, which means the animals were probably caught nearby. Cuncaicha appears to have been a base camp with all the signs of human occupation.

The researchers revealed that, “The Pucuncho Basin comprised of a high-altitude oasis that is perfect for a specialized hunting (and later, flocking) adaptation. But wet-season storms and the risk of hypothermia, along with the upholding of extended social networks and collection of edible plant resources, may have encouraged regular descents to lower elevations.”

The study authors wrote, “Tibet and the Andes, high-altitude living in places is a brutal and ceaseless test of survival. Above 13,100 feet, the thin air and treeless terrain provide little protection from the high solar radiation. There’s not much fuel to make fires, there’s much less oxygen available to breathe and it takes about twice the number of calories just to keep up the normal metabolic process.”

Certainly, these factors reveal authentic answer to the question why human settlements higher than about 13,100 feet and older than 11,500 years of age have evaded them. Probably, a long time for the genetic variations to arise in the population that would favor, among other traits, higher metabolic rates and more lung capacity traits found in certain high-altitude populations today.

Though, these high-altitude settlements were set up within about 2,000 years of humans’ first arrival in South America. Whether they had developed the ideal traits or not, clearly humans didn’t take that long to settle in (or, in this case, settle up).

The study authors believe that, “The glaciers in the region had to recede for humans to be able to reach the Pucuncho basin. However, it appears the forbidding walls of glacial ice might never have reached the area.”

The researchers further told that, “Our data do not support previous hypotheses, which suggested that climatic amelioration and a lengthy period of human adaptation were necessary for successful human colonization of the high Andes.”

The reason why these sites were not discovered before is not because early humans weren’t capable of living in such high altitudes, but that it’s difficult for scientists to find these hard-to-reach spots. Now that these two sites have been found, it hints that there could be many more tucked high in the Andes, study authors claimed.

“As the early settlement of high-altitude regions is understudied, other Terminal Pleistocene sites above 4,000 [meters above sea level] likely await discovery,” they wrote.

For the permanent settlements, we’ll go even higher: La Rinconanda, located near a Peruvian gold mine, which lies more than 16,700 feet (more than 3 miles) above sea level.

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