This tendency toward neotony, or natural selection of more childlike features, has been seen across much of the world, he said. Flooded cave hides Naia, a 13,000-year-old American Ancient bones reveal girl's tough life in early Americas Credit: Daniel Riordan Araujo. [3], The original report stated that "HN5/48 is among the small group of Paleoamerican skeletons, a group that is morphologically distinct from most Native Americans but within the natural variation of Asian-Pacific populations. Cave rescue: Key questions answered - BBC News She was found in Hoyo Negro, or Black Hole, a vast chamber inside the Sac Atun cave system on Mexicos Yucatan peninsula. In 2007, cave divers happened upon her remarkably preserved remains, which form the oldest, most complete and genetically intact human skeleton in the New World. Naia: The girl in the cave By Joel Achenbach May 15, 2014 at 2:23 p.m. EDT I'll post my new story below it's about a fossil discovery in the Yucatan. The stunningly simple rule that will always get you out of a maze. Scientists have marveled at how well her bones have been preserved and that they possess most of her complete skeleton. The divers did not attempt to move the bones. But they couldn't make a solid connection between those populations and the Paleoamericans. In the Mexican State of Chihuahua, we have a giant crystal cave in the Naica Mine at a depth of nearly 400 feet. Without sufficient knowledge, preparation, and equipment, cave exploring can lead to serious injury or death. As the divers explored the vast chamber, they found that it was littered with the bones of now-extinct animals, including ground sloths and elephantlike creatures known as gomphotheres. The upper right third molar of Naia, which was used for both radiocarbon dating and DNA . The animal bones are also painting a more detailed picture of the strange world inhabited by Naia, an Ice Age girl found in the cave who is the oldest, most complete human skeleton yet discovered in the Americas. The skeleton was nicknamed "Naia," echoing the Greek term for a water nymph. What we have here is the unique combination of an adolescent Paleoamerican skeleton with a Native American DNA haplotype, said Prof Douglas Kennett of Pennsylvania State University, a co-author of the paper published in the journal Science. Divers Alberto Nava and Susan Bird had to examine Naia's skull underwater to create a 3-D model (see video below). Chatters speculated that Naia like the animals whose bones were found lining the floor and the walls of Hoyo Negro became trapped in the bottom of the pit while she wandered through the cave, during an age when sea levels were lower than they are today. But Chatters dismisses this idea, noting that in the current study, Were not looking at an ancestor-descendent relationship here necessarily. The project will be featured in National Geographic magazine and on a National Geographic Television program airing as part of PBS' "Nova" documentary series in 2015. ISSN 0028-0836 (print). Such findings suggest that the physical differences between Paleoamericans and Native Americans are due to population changes that took place in Beringia and the Americas, and are not the result of separate migrations. Its a lineage that we see across the Americas, she said, and a variety of different studies, different lines of evidence over several decades archaeological studies, genetic studies, morphological studies all suggest that Native Americans can be traced to a Beringian source population.. Well placed as a Paleoamerican.. She was found in Hoyo Negro, or "Black Hole", a vast chamber inside. It took 10,000 years for it to be the way it is, he said. Most scientists have assumed that the first humans to come to the Americas traveled from Eurasia across the Bering land bridge that existed before the oceans rose after the Ice Ages. The scientists think Naia and the animals fell into this cave long ago and died in this "inescapable natural trap," as the investigators called it. This toad can get you high. Naias skull and four of her other bones have been removed to a research institute. But there is great debate about whether this represented a single migratory event or multiple pulses of people from different parts of Eurasia and via different routes, including a coastal migration. The well-preserved, genetically intact skeleton of a teenage girl who lived about 13,000-12,000 years ago in what is now Mexico is helping resolve a long-standing question of the link between first Americans (Paleoamericans) and modern Native Americans. But in contrast to the extensive damage of teeth observed in other hunter-gatherer populations of the time, Ixchel and most of these skulls show very light dental attrition. Or perhaps she was following an animal. "We make all the attempts to work in situ," said Pilar Luna, an archaeologist at Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History. Doyle pointed out that mitochondrial DNA doesn't provide nearly as much information as the nuclear DNA that he and the other Anzick-1 researchers studied. He compared the cave, known as Hoyo Negro (black hole), to the Awash Valley of Ethiopia the site of the 1974 discovery of Lucy, an early human ancestor. She reflects the earliest Americans, those groups that traveled from Siberia over the land bridge across the Bering Sea before the seas rose to cover it. A new life-saving test could help diagnose pre-eclampsia. But later, as their descendants settled down and adopted agriculture, natural selection favored a gentler sort of personality, and men and women took on softer, more feminine features, Chatters argues. University of New Mexico geochemist Yemane Asmerom, who helped determine how long ago Naia lived, compared her story to that of Lucy, the 3.2 million-year-old human ancestor whose bones were found in Ethiopia 40 years ago. CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADASome 13,000 years ago in whats now the Yucatn Peninsula, a deep pit inside a cave became the final resting place for a menagerie of exotic animals. Studies of Naianamely the fact that shes a genetic forerunner to modern Native Americansironically raises some interesting questions about whether scientists will be able to get access and extract the remains of early Americans yet to be uncovered. After traditional and well accepted direct-dating methods failed because the bones were mineralized from long emersion in warm salty water within this limestone cave system, the scientists built a geochronological framework for Naia using a unique combination of techniques. Female skeletons from the Americas have been frustratingly incomplete, says Chatters. Naia's significance stems from the fact that the teenage girl's bones were so well-preserved in the cold, dark waters of a vast, 100-foot-deep (30-meter-deep) grotto on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, known as Hoyo Negro (Spanish for "Black Hole"). Cave diver inspects the skull of Naia, a 12,500-year-old teenage girl discovered in a submerged cave on the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. Her remains may help determine the origins of the earliest Americans and finally solve the mystery of why they looked so dramatically different from the Native Americans of recent millennia. 11,000-year-old mine in underwater cave surprises archaeologists Thestate of Yucatanis Mexicos newest, most popularex-pat hub. This photo was taken by the painting with light method on a 30 second exposure. Scientists would also like to find more specimens from the age of the First Americans. When you start out with a little bit of data, its easy to spin a simple scenario, says Greg McDonald, a U.S. Bureau of Land Management paleontologist and a member of the Hoyo Negro team. Though her skull is shaped like those of other early Americans, she shares a DNA sequence with some modern Native Americans. Cave divers discovered the skeleton seven years ago in a complex of flooded caverns known as Hoyo Negro, in the jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula. That's where Naia enters the picture. DNA analysis shows Naia was related to an ancient Siberian population from which most, if not all, native Americans descend. After the Isthmus of Panama tectonically rose from the sea some 3 to 5 million years ago, the ecosystems that existed on the two continentsleft to stew in their own evolutionary juices for tens of millions of yearswere at last able to mix and mingle. Therefore, the oldest pieces of florets provided the oldest minimum age.". but also has created an image of Naia, the 15-year-old girl whose remains were discovered by scuba divers. Asmerom and more than a dozen other researchers tell Naia's story in this week's issue of the journal Science. [1] At the time of Naia's death, the cave system was mostly dry, and she likely died falling into Hoyo Negro. She would have been, under his scenario, a Wild Style person, a risk-taker. Mexican experts plan to extract the entire skeleton of a teenage girl who nearly 13,000 years ago toppled into a deep hole in a Mexican cave and died, an official said Monday. According to this widely held theory, the Americas were populated by Siberian ancestors who crossed the Bering land bridge that back then linked Eurasia and Alaska. Such finds led scientists to wonder whether these different-looking immigrants, referred to as Paleoamericans, made their way to the Americas via different routes. Multiple methods used to date her teeth and bones suggests that she lived between 12,000 and 13,000 years ago, making her one of the earliest humans ever found in the Americas. "Unfortunately, we can't rule out that the tooth enamel is contaminated with secondary carbonates from the cave system, Kennett explains. Now many scientists believe that the changes in appearance took place once the earlyNative Americanswere already established in the Americas. Naia had a small, projecting face, with narrow cheekbones, wide-set eyes and a prominent forehead. These facial differences have prompted some researchers to argue that Native American tribes may belong to a separate lineage from the early Americans, perhaps the result of multiple migrations, not all from Beringia. | The researchers noticed accumulations of calcium carbonate which could be accurately dated using the uranium thorium method. "I was shocked when we actually got intact DNA.". Science, vol. In fact, her narrow-shaped skull and other features led scientists to initially speculate that she could have come to the Americas from Europe or other parts of Asia and not over the Bering Sea, which has been the predominant theory regarding entry to the continents. One reason is the rich history: the locals have been protecting their independence and culture since the birth of this, The RV Guide for Yucatan reveals the Cancun Corridor Mexicos most-visited area. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2014.15226. The researchers focused on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which is used by geneticists to examine how populations are related. Learn how your comment data is processed. 13,000-year-old teenager was early American | CNN Why did Naia go into the cave? (See how humans first entered the Americas. Divers have found three exquisitely preserved skulls of the extinct bear species Arctotherium wingei. Why did Naia go into that cave and to her doom? Using two independent methods to date the remains, the authors carbon-dated the tooth enamel and measured the ratio of uranium and thorium in the mineral deposits. Analysis of her mitochondrial DNA, which is passed from mother to child, show that she had a constellation of genes that is common among modern Native Americans. So initial estimates of the latest that animals and humans could have walked into the cave system was 9,700 years ago. Scientists examined material scraped from the surface of the bones, and used multiple techniques to probe one of Naias molars. [It is] a water-filled void about the size of a professional basketball arena, says James Chatters of firm Applied Paleoscience in Washington DC. One of the earliest known people to live in the Americas, a girl dubbed Naia who roamed the Yucatan Peninsula about 12,000 years ago, was slender and short and endured hardship, childbirth, and death all by age 16 or so. Genetically, Paleoamericans have similar attributes as modern Native Americans even if their morphology appears different. This is the first full skeleton to be found, and the first major set of remains to be unearthed so far south. This is consistent with the hypothesis that her ancestors origins were in Beringia, a now partially submerged landmass including parts of Siberia, Alaska and the Yukon. Later the team used the photographs to reconstruct a three-dimensional image (see video at bottom). The small number of early American specimens discovered so far have smaller and shorter faces and longer and narrower skulls than later Native Americans, more closely resembling the modern people of Africa, Australia, and the South Pacific. Cave divers first came across Hoyo NegroSpanish for black holein 2007, and were stunned to find a massive water-filled chamber rife with articulated animal remains and the skeleton of Naia. What is xAI, Elon Musks new AI company, and will it succeed? This is consistent with hypotheses that both Paleoamericans and Native Americans derive from a single source population, whether or not all share a lineal relationship the differences in craniofacial form between Native Americans and their Paleoamerican predecessors are best explained as evolutionary changes that postdate the divergence of Beringians from their Siberian ancestors. More than 12,000 years later, in 2007, after the seas had risen and the cave system had filled with water, her skull upside down, teeth remarkably intact caught the eye of a man in scuba gear. While researchers are still puzzling over Naia, tourists have a myriad of opportunities to witness other ancient skeletons and artifacts when visiting the countrys historic collections. Naia, they calculated, was approximately one and a half metres tall. The modern-day chapters of Naia's story began in 2007, when a trio of divers discovered Hoyo Negro. Google Scholar, You can also search for this author in However, in 2004, the 9thCircuit Court of Appeals upheld a previous decision that ruled that the remains could not be defined as Native American under NAGPRA law, and studies of the body resumed. Those methods indicated that Naia was somewhere between 12,000 and 13,000 years old.
An ancient bear skull sits on the floor of Hoyo Negro, a flooded cave on Mexico's Yucatn Peninsula.
Led by co-author Douglas Kennett, a professor of environmental archaeology at the Pennsylvania State University, researchers radiocarbon-dated her tooth enamel to 12,900 years ago. Its likely that Hoyo Negro will turn up yet more surprises: Schubert recently received a National Geographic grant for further fieldwork at the site. Terms of Use "It appears that she fell quite a distance, and struck something hard enough to fracture her pelvis," Chatters said. Like the saber-toothed cats, giant sloths, and other wild creatures trapped in the cave, Naia most likely wandered in looking for fresh water and took a fatal fall into the 90-foot-deep pit. Nabia (or Navia) was a goddess of the Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, although she also had an extended cult during the Roman occupation of the peninsula. Unauthorized use is prohibited. This underwater chamber is reachable only by divers in the Sac Actun cave system, a web of flooded tunnels beneath. A paper published Thursday online in the journal Science argues that the discrepancy in appearance between the Paleoamericans and later Native Americans is most likely the result of recent, and relatively rapid, human evolution and not the result of subsequent migrations of people into the Americas. We are now recognizing that it is much more complicated, and this is the real fun of paleontology., Copyright 1996-2015 National Geographic SocietyCopyright 2015-2023 National Geographic Partners, LLC. NAYA RIVERA was a popular actress, singer, and model best known for her role as Santana Lopez on Glee. A broad view of Hoyo Negro, shot from the floor near the south edge, showing the immensity of the chamber and the complexity of the boulder-strewn bottom. Ancient skeleton in underwater cave may be a "missing link" TheYucatan Peninsula, of course, is world famous for its cave systems, which is one reason why divers were there exploring. The 1996 discovery of the 9,000-year-old remains of a hunterknown as Kennewick Mannear the Washington-Oregon border presented an intriguing puzzle to archaeologists studying the peopling of the Americas. But in recent months unauthorised divers have got into the cave, so as of March the team has removed five pieces, including the skull and jaw. Read more about its sister speciesthe biggest bear that ever lived. The paper concludes, The differences in craniofacial form between Native Americans and their Paleoamerican predecessors are best explained as evolutionary changes that postdate the divergence of Beringians from their Siberian ancestors.. Floods, fires and deadly heat are the alarm bells of a planet on the brink. However the scientists noticed something interesting about the bones themselves: they were spotted with rosette-looking mineral deposits. Nature (2014). How extreme heat affects our petsand how to help them. At that early period of time, the caves of that region, about five miles from the Caribbean Sea, were not yet filled with water. ", Genetic testing indicated a genetic link between Paleoamericans and modern indigenous peoples of the Americas[4] as testing found MtDNA haplotype D1. Archaeologist Pilar . Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. She has the physical characteristics we expect to see in Paleoamericans, and the genetics say she and modern Native Americans share ancestry, says James Chatters, an archaeologist who has studied both Naia and Kennewick Man. Due to the fact that the Yucatan area was extremely dry during the season that Naia was there, water was scarce and the only place to find water easily during that time was in caves. Most of the mammals became extinct around 13,000 years ago. Yet researchers have puzzled over why the more-than-10,000-year-old Palaeoamerican skulls unearthed so far have such different morphology from those in more recent finds and from modern Native Americans. Recently it has made headlines with the discovery of ancient teen that divers found in an underwater cave. DNA From 12,000-Year-Old Skeleton Helps Answer the Question: Who Were But paleontologists still know very little about this massive interchange, since fossils are notoriously hard to come by in the tropical forests that cover the region. Spain began colonizing Mexico in 1519 when the Conquistador Hernando. This 1312ka Paleoamerican skeleton thus suggests that Paleoamericans represent an early population expansion out of Beringia, not an earlier migration from elsewhere in Eurasia.