Upward Sun River discovery

Vídeo YouTube (uafairbanks, 24/02/2011) vía Past Horizons, añadido a Paleo Vídeos > Prehistoria Universal > L.R.2.2

University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers Ben Potter and Joel Irish, Tanana Chiefs Conference president Jerry Isaac, and Healy Lake Traditional Council First Chief Joann Polston discuss the discoveries at the Upward Sun River archaeological site in Alaska. UAF researchers and Native leaders have announced that the site contained the cremated remains of one of the earliest inhabitants of North America. The site may provide rare insights into the burial practices of Ice Age people and shed new light on their daily lives.

Noticias relacionadas / Related news: Archivo del noticiario > Ediciones 24 y 25-02-11:
Hallan el esqueleto incinerado de un niño paleoindígena en Alaska / de Noticias SINC
La fosa de incineración de un niño revela detalles de la vida cotidiana en el Alaska paleoindígena / de Eurekalert!
Child's cremation site reveals domestic life in Paleoindian Alaska / de EurekAlert!
Child Burial Provides Rare Glimpse of Early Americans / ScienceNOW
Child's 11,500-Year-Old Remains Unearthed In Alaska / NPR

Reference: A Terminal Pleistocene Child Cremation and Residential Structure from Eastern Beringia. Ben A. Potter, Joel D. Irish, Joshua D. Reuther, Carol Gelvin-Reymiller, and Vance T. Holliday.

Abstract
The dearth of human remains and residential sites has constrained inquiry into Beringian lifeways at the transition of the late Pleistocene–early Holocene. We report on human skeletal remains and a residential structure from central Alaska dated to ~11,500 calendar years ago. The remains are from a ~3-year-old child who was cremated in a pit within a semisubterranean house. The burial-cremation and house have exceptional integrity and preservation and exhibit similarities and differences to both Siberian Upper Paleolithic and North American Paleoindian features.
Science 25 February 2011: Vol. 331 no. 6020 pp. 1058-1062 DOI: 10.1126/science.1201581