Human Remains Found in Underground Cave Gives Clues About Early Americans
- 10 years ago
Divers in a flooded limestone chamber deep underground the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico have found some of the oldest nearly complete human remains, which give experts some clues about the earliest settlers of the Americas. The intact skull and other remains were found 130 feet below sea level, along with the remains of several extinct animals like a gomphothere which is similar to an elephant.
Divers in a flooded limestone chamber deep underground the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico have found some of the oldest nearly complete human remains, which give experts some clues about the earliest settlers of the Americas.
The intact skull and other remains were found 130 feet below sea level, along with the remains of several extinct animals like a gomphothere which is similar to an elephant.
Genetic analysis of the human remains show that they belong to a girl around the age of 15 or 16 who died at least 12 thousand years ago, which is around the time when the first people to inhabit America are believed to have shared relatives with modern Native American populations.
There is some controversy because of the genetic evidence that exists linking Native American groups to East Asian origins that are different from the genetic lineage of the earliest remains of humans that have been found in America.
According to one theory, people crossed the Beringia land bridge from present day Asia to America around 20 thousand years ago, and this theory maybe supported by the latest discovery of the teenage girl’s remains.
Divers in a flooded limestone chamber deep underground the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico have found some of the oldest nearly complete human remains, which give experts some clues about the earliest settlers of the Americas.
The intact skull and other remains were found 130 feet below sea level, along with the remains of several extinct animals like a gomphothere which is similar to an elephant.
Genetic analysis of the human remains show that they belong to a girl around the age of 15 or 16 who died at least 12 thousand years ago, which is around the time when the first people to inhabit America are believed to have shared relatives with modern Native American populations.
There is some controversy because of the genetic evidence that exists linking Native American groups to East Asian origins that are different from the genetic lineage of the earliest remains of humans that have been found in America.
According to one theory, people crossed the Beringia land bridge from present day Asia to America around 20 thousand years ago, and this theory maybe supported by the latest discovery of the teenage girl’s remains.