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Mexican Archaeologists Extract 10,000 Year-Old Skeleton from Flooded Cave in Quintana Roo
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The Young Man of Chan Hol, named after the cenote it was found in, was recovered in a 542 meters long and 8.3 deep cave where stalagmites abound, and is reached after going through flooded, dark and difficult labyrinths. Photo: Jerónimo Aviles/INAH.
MEXICO CITY.- One of the earliest human skeletons of America, which belonged to a person that lived more than 10,000 years ago, in the Ice Age, was recovered by Mexican specialists from a flooded cave in Quintana Roo. The information it has lodged for centuries will reveal new data regarding the settlement of the Americas. The Young Man of Chan Hol, as the skeleton is known among the scientific community, due to the slight tooth wear it presents, which indicates an early age, is the fourth of our earliest ancestors found in the American Continent, and has been studied as part of a National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) project. After 3 years of studies conducted In Situ to prevent information loss, the Chan Hol skeleton was subtracted from the water by a team of specialists headed by biologist Arturo Gonzalez, coordinator of the project Study of Pre Ceramic Men of Yucatan Peninsula and director of Museo del De ... More |
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 project. Photo: Eugenio Acevez/INAH.');)
 Institute of Anthropological Investigations, indicates the skeleton belonged to a young adult, probably a male; legs were flexed to the left and arms extended to both sides of the body, which is a “new fact to be studied”, since no skeleton had been found before in this position. Photo: Eugenio Acevez/INAH.');)
 to verify if it shares morphological and physical features with the other 3 skeletons found in the caves. Photo: Eugenio Acevez/INAH.');)
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, a tripod, lighting devises, and 3 plastic boxes with protection inside to carry the millenary human remains. Photo: Jeronimo Aviles/INAH.');)
 headed the team of speleodivers. Photo: DMC INAH. M. MARAT.');)
 physical anthropologists that studied the remains think they were placed in the cave after a funerary ceremony that took place by the end of Pleistocene, when the sea level was 150 meters lower, before the caves, probably walked by this person, got flooded. Photo: DMC INAH. M. MARAT.');)
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