Prehistoric skeleton found in Mexico questions everything we know about the early settlement of the Americas

According to a press release by the Heidelberg University , a prehistoric female skeleton found in the Yucatán Peninsula is at least 10,000 years old and probably dates from the end of the most recent ice age , the late Pleistocene .

The discovery was made by an international research team led by scientists from Heidelberg University , as well as experts from Mexico and England , who are currently studying the remains of the approximately 30-year-old woman.

The skeleton was discovered near the city of Tulúm in the Chan Hol cave , which is now full of water as the result of global warming and sea-level rise approximately 8,000 years ago. Nine other prehistoric skeletons had already been discovered in this submerged cave system. According to Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Stinnesbeck , the leader of the research team, not all of the ten skeletons were complete, but they were well preserved.

These discoveries offer valuable archaeological , palaeontological , and climatic information about the American continent and its first inhabitants, the Paleoindians . Moreover, the Tulúm skeletons exhibit round-headed – mesocephalic – cranial characteristics different from the long-headed – dolichocephalic – morphology of Paleoindians from Central Mexico and North America , explains Prof . Stinnesbeck .

For the researchers , the head shape indicates that two morphologically different groups of Paleoindians must have lived in America at the same time. They may have reached the American continent from different geographical points of origin . Or a small group of early settlers may have been living in isolation in the Yucatán Peninsula and developed a different skull morphology over a short period of time. Prof. Dr. Silvia González and Dr. Sam Rennie , both from Liverpool John Moores University , suggest that the early settlement history of the Americas is, therefore, more complicated and may date back to earlier times than it is commonly believed.

Prehistoric skeleton found in Mexico questions everything we know about the early settlement of the Americas

The woman's remains were recovered by Mexican divers Vicente Fito and Iván Hernández . The Chan Hol woman was approximately 30 years old at the time of her death. Her skull had multiple injuries , but they may not have been the cause of death. The researchers also discovered signs of a potential treponemal bacterial infection that caused severe alteration of the cranial bones . Like the other Tulúm skeletons , the woman's teeth had cavities , possibly due to a diet high in sugar. In contrast, the teeth of most Paleoindian skeletons from Central Mexico and North America are worn down and cavity-free, suggesting they ate hard food.

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To precisely date the find, the researchers used a dating method based on the radioactive decay of uranium and its conversion into thorium . The researchers dated the uranium - thorium isotopes of a lime crust that had grown on the finger bones in the Chan Hol cave . Prof. Dr. Norbert Franck and his team from the Institute of Environmental Physics of Heidelberg University were able to give the skeleton a minimum age of 9,900 years. However, the body was then already skeletonized and the prehistoric find may be older.

Prehistoric skeleton found in Mexico questions everything we know about the early settlement of the Americas

In 2017, Wolfgang Stinnesbeck and his team of researchers had already documented another human skeleton found in the Chan Hol cave , which was considered to be 13,000 years old based on a stalagmite that had grown on its hip bone. For the researchers, these finds prove the unexpectedly early settlement of southern Mexico .

This project was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

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