The Young Man of Chan Hol II skeleton was laid to rest 10,000 years ago when sea levels were much lower (Image: Eugenio Acevez/Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia/REUTERS)
Posted on 04/28/2012 7:49:16 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
One of the first humans to inhabit the Americas has been stolen -- and archaeologists want it back.
The skeleton, which is probably at least 10,000 years old, has disappeared from a cenote, or underground water reservoir, in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
In response, the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in Mexico City has placed "wanted" posters in supermarkets, bakeries and dive shops in and around the nearby town of Tulum. They are also considering legal action to recover the remains.
The missing bones belong to a skeleton dubbed Young Man of Chan Hol II, discovered in 2010. The cenote in which it was found had previously yielded another 10,000-year-old skeleton -- the Young Man of Chan Hol, discovered in 2006.
The earlier find has anatomical features suggesting shared heritage with Indonesians and south Asians. Other skeletons found in cenotes in the area with similar features may date to around 14,000 years ago. Such finds imply that not all early Americans came from north Asia. This deals yet another blow to the idea that the Clovis people crossing an ancient land bridge between Siberia and Alaska were the first to colonise the Americas. Clovis culture dates to around 13,000 years ago.
Both skeletons were laid to rest at a time when sea level was much lower than it is today and the cenote, now about 8 metres below the water, was dry. Archaeologists have also found the remains of elephants, giant sloths and other animals in the caves, giving an indication of what the ancient humans ate.
INAH researchers have been aware of creeping theft of specimens from cenotes, but they lack the resources to guard the hundreds of sites that dot the peninsula.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
The Young Man of Chan Hol II skeleton was laid to rest 10,000 years ago when sea levels were much lower (Image: Eugenio Acevez/Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia/REUTERS)
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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Only eleven topics or so this week, so I thought I'd quickly add some. IOW, I've been slackin' all week (regardless that it was a good reason). |
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Can’t let old bones disprove a very lucrative myth now, can we.
Interesting
Weekend at Bernies part IX?
So ... what they're really saying ... is that rising sea levels are a long-term phenomenon, and not necessarily tied to any human activity? Interesting.
(They say this a lot, actually. It's not new or especially interesting. But saying this, while also bitching and moaning about Global Warming shows a bit of cognitive dissonance.)
They’re also saying that the folks we know as Native Americans, may not be as Native as some would have us think.
"Cognitive dissonance" is a mild way of putting it. The AGW'ers are telling a gigantic lie based either on ignorance or political chicanery. Very few so-called "scientists" pushing the AGW scenario are actually involved in academic disciplines related to climate, atmospheric studies, historical geology, solar astronomy, etc. The institution of science itself is under attack.
Most likely, Native Americans came in several “waves” and at different times. There is also the orign of the Patagonians that doesn’t fit the Siberia model. There seems a lot more to learn.
Maybe 'Young Man of Chan Hol II' WANTED his bones back. :)
Absolutely.
I used to traipse all over this area...even climbing all over the Tulum ruins...you can no longer do that, BTW.
Anyway, if you ever go to Tulum, be sure to visit Coba, which is close by. I once stayed at the ClubMed there for $6.00 a day.
Maybe George Lucas is working on the next Indiana Jones movie!
“Harrison Ford and the Walker of Doom”
The Native Americans were the Previous Wave. The people we have now are the Current Wave. Nobody is sure how many Past Waves there were, or who was in the First Wave.
Sounds like there’s gonna be a whole new “WAVE” of casinos ......
Those old guys had CO2 factories in their caves and they caused the sea level to rise. Their SUVs all rusted away and we don’t find them.
“Native Americans”
Native what?
Oh, you mean Indians.
Accelerated by the acid rain, no doubt.
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Good Point. The entirety of the North American Indian legal status rests on their claim to have been created here. That claim gives them on-reservation Federal tax exemption, the right to own and build nontaxable casinos, fireworks and tobacco sales, as well as unregulated natural resource access - whatever the tribe wants, they get.
That claim also gives them Constitutional Rights, while relegating all others rights to the status of privileges which, according to SCOTUS, can be revoked at any given time.
Break that claim and the whole Treaty tribe empire falls.
Their legal status rests on the treaties they have with the Federal Government. It does not matter if they have been here 10 million years or 10 minutes.
In fact several of the treaty's refer to lands that the tribe had very recently moved into.
The Dakota area is considered Sioux country but it had been owned just a little bit before by the Cheyenne who had taken it, I believe, from the Kiowa. Doesn't matter, Lakota reservations are in The Dakotas, Cheyenne are in Montana and the Kiowa are in Oklahoma.
So your little fantasy is not based in reality. Unless the US Federal Government wants to abrogate all their treaties with all the dependent nations things stay as they are no matter who was on first.
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