The 10,000-Year-Old Boy's Bones Found in an Underwater Mexican Cave That Could Rewrite the History of the Americas
The remains of a prehistoric child that were found in an underwater cave in Mexico four years ago have now been removed by a team of divers. The skeletal remains of the boy, dubbed the Young Hol Chan, are more than 10,000 years old and are among the oldest human bones found in the Americas. Scientists hope that the well-preserved corpse will offers clues to ancient human migration. The corpse was discovered in 2006 by a pair of German cave divers who were exploring unique flooded sandstone sinkholes, known as cenotes, common to the eastern Mexican state of Quintana Roo. He appears to have been a young boy and was found with his legs bent to his left side and his arms extended to either side of his body. No other ancient skeleton has ever been found in this position. Scientists spent three years studying the remains where they lay before deciding it was safe to bring the skeleton to the surface for further study. Anthropologists from the National Automonous University of Mexico think that the body was placed in the cave in a funeral ceremony performed late in the Pleistocene epoch when the sea level was around 488 feet lower than it is today. Experts recovered 60 percent of the skeleton, including bones from both arms and legs, vertebrae, ribs, the skull and several teeth – all fantastically preserved. August 26, 2010 Copyright © 2010 Daily Mail
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