Scientists from Ohio State University (USA) conducted a detailed analysis of four skulls 9-13 thousand years old, found during excavations in Mexico, and found that these remains belonged to immigrants from Europe, Asia and the Arctic.
The research report is published on the Ohio State University website. It proves that early North Americans were biologically much more diverse than hitherto believed.
This conclusion was made by an analysis of four ancient skulls found in flooded caves in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. Their age ranges from 9000 to 13000 years, that is, the remains belonged to people who lived in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene.
The skulls were examined using computed tomography. The researchers created a 3D image of each skull and measured its basic parameters using a special 3D mesh. They then compared the findings with the skull parameters of reference populations from around the world.
It turned out that the oldest skull bears great resemblance to the skulls of modern North American Arctic populations, while the second oldest skull corresponds to modern European populations.
The third skull showed similarities with both Asian groups and the skulls of Native Americans, that is, Indians. The fourth skull bears mixed signs of representatives of the Arctic peoples and modern South American populations.
“These findings complicate the history of settling America,” said study co-author Mark Hubb, professor of anthropology. “Until now, it was believed that the early settlers were very similar to each other. America.
The scientist notes that this is the first such study. The fact is that in North America to date, only about 20 human remains have been found, whose age exceeds 8000 years. While in South America, almost 400 skeletons of the same age have been found.
Previous research has focused exclusively on South American remains. And only now it became clear that the North American skulls are not similar to the South American ones - they differ quite clearly in morphology.
According to Hubb, now the history of the settlement of the Americas may have to be revised. Probably, the processes of settling in North America and South America took place in different ways, so you need to talk about them "as about completely different things."
