A team of researchers from the University of Alaska, in Fairbanks, has announced the discovery in Upward Sun River , near the Tanana River, in the center of that state, of the remains of two children who were buried more than 11,000 years ago. According to the anthropologist Ben Potter, from the aforementioned institution, who has coordinated the study, they are the oldest found in North America.
In an article published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , Potter and his collaborators note that the offerings and other objects found with the children provide new information about the funeral rites and other daily habits of the first Americans. In his opinion, this will allow us to better understand how these societies were structured, the treatment they gave to minors and the challenges they had to face in order to survive.
The children were buried right under a home, in what must have been a residential structure, around 9500 BC. C. Joining them were found sharp stone tips of his pole brackets, which were decorated with different brands, which could turn the set on weapons composite oldest in North Africa.
Examining the teeth and bones allowed the scientists to determine that one of the infants died before birth and that the other survived a few weeks after delivery. Based on this finding and others made in the same area, such as the remains of another three-year-old boy whose body was cremated at the same time over theirs, these experts have suggested that the population must be lacking in resources . In addition, the appearance of remains of fish, squirrels and marmots indicates that it was a community of hunters that had been settled in that place for some time.
Foto: UAF photo courtesy of Ben Potter
