A teenage girl was unfortunate enough about 13,000 years ago to fall into a hole and die. Her skeletal remains were found recently by divers who were exploring underwater caves in Mexico, and are some of the oldest ever found in the Americas. The girls’s bones have been exhumed so that they can be studied, and have their DNA extracted for further research. Scientists are hoping that this young girl’s DNA will be able to tell us something about some of the most ancient known inhabitants of the Mexican Peninsula. The cave system where her bones were found is known as the Sac Atun Cave System and is located near the city of Tulum in the Eastern Yucatan Peninsula.
It is believed that the girl fell to her death in the cave, presumably while searching for water to drink. The bone’s position and condition indicated that the girl may have fallen a great deal before fracturing her hip and suffering other internal injuries. At the time of her death, it is estimated that the cave was not filled with water as it is today, as there are many ancient animal bones scattered throughout the floor of the same cavern that she was located in. The cave may have been used as a safe place by prehistoric humans.
The skeleton has been named Naia, and is a mostly complete skeleton of what appears to be a 16 year old girl at the time of her death. Her skull still contained all of its teeth, which is proving to be critical for DNA mappers who have been extracting DNA from her teeth. These scientists are hoping to prove that her DNA is linked to modern day native people, and other specimens found throughout North America. If they can prove that she is distantly related to other remains found in North America, they could be able to prove the theory that early settlers arrived in the Americas via an ancient land bridge in the Bering Sea.
There are still many scientists who are skeptical of the ancient land bridge theory as being the only plausible reason for explaining human migration on the American Continents. Other researchers believe that our ancient ancestors may have first arrived here by boat from both Asia and Europe. Early Scandinavian remains in the North Eastern Americas conclude that it was possible for people to travel by boat to this continent much sooner than what was previously thought.
With so few intact human remains from the ancient past being discovered in the Americas, it makes consistent research very difficult for anthropologists who wish to prove or disprove a theory. Perhaps the conditions here did not allow for sufficient preservation of human remains, or perhaps humans just didn’t exist in significant populations until more modern times. Many landmarks and artifacts seem to come from a much more recent era in the past few thousand years, long after the supposed migration would have occurred.
13000 Year Old Skeleton DNA To Teach Us About Native Ancestors.
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