Science is Fun Fridays!
While providing some local history here, I mentioned "Spirit Cave Man," unearthed in 1940 in the foothills of the Stillwater Mountains, outside of Fallon, NV.
He is the oldest human mummy found in North America. He was wrapped in a mat of tule, a plant native to freshwater marshes, as well as a rabbit-skin blanket.
In the 1990's, researchers studied the remains with X-rays and computer scans, built models of his head and reconstructed facial features. They determined that he had been about 45 years old.
It is believed that he suffered blood poisoning from infected teeth, and it was evident that his people cared for him until his death. Ground up fish remains were found in his stomach. When he died, he was taken up the hillside into the cave. They laid him on his right side with his hand resting beneath his chin.
In 1996, the remains were carbon dated and the results indicated he lived approximately 9,400 years ago. They estimate that he died about 7420 BC.
Shortly after, the Paiute-Shoshone Tribe of the Fallon Reservation made a claim under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act but DNA analysis was not concluded until 2015. In November 2016, the remains were given to the tribe, and he was buried in 2018.
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