Ice Age Skeleton Found in Cave in Mexico
DNA, Hoyo Negro, Mexico, Paleontology
One of the earliest examples of human remains ever found in the Americas, an Ice Age skeleton, 12,000 to 13,000 years old, of a sixteen-year-old girl was found in 2007 in Hoyo Negro, an underwater cave in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. The cave also contained skeletal remains of saber-toothed tigers, gomphotheres, two species of giant ground sloth (including one previously unknown to Science), cougars, cave bears, coyotes, bats and other small animals. The girl’s skeletal remains were DNA-tested, and her Mitochondrial DNA identified as belonging to Haplogroup D1, one of five haplogroups typical of Native Americans.
National Geographic article & video
Current coverage was occasioned by the appearance of an article in Science.
Hat tip to Karen L. Myers.
