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Oldest American Skull Found in Mexico
MaximumBob writes "While digging a well near the Mexico City airport, crews found this skull, believed to be the oldest human skull ever found in the Americas. What's especially exciting is that since it was found outside the United States, it's not subject to U.S. laws which allow local tribes to rebury remains and keep them from being studied. The skull will be studied by scientists and may shed new light on alternatives to the "land bridge" hypothesis of American settlement."
The "Peñon Woman III" -- which scientists believe is now the oldest skull from the New World -- has been sitting in Mexico City's National Museum of Anthropology since 1959.
They just re-dated it.
The fate of Kennewick man is still a matter of some debate. A court approved study on the remains, but the American Indian tribes are trying to halt research while the decision is appealed.
For an example of why these findings are so political, check out this related story in The Guardian speculating that the Mexican remains might show the first Americans were of European origin.
The BBC version of this story is more detailed and has somewhat less wild speculation.
I don't think they're denying the fact that people traveled over the land bridge to get to north america; I think they're saying that those weren't the FIRST people in north america (or at least that far south in north america), but rather that island hoppers had set foot on land down in mexico. that's just my interpretation.
...spike
Ewwwwww, coconut...
The law remains and not much happens. NAGPRA (The Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act) asserts that all prehistoric remains in all the museums in the US are to be "repatriated;" that is to say, they must be given over to the tribe that can make the best claim to decendence from the remains. Furthermore, any new remains that are found must be handed over after a limited time for scientific analysis.
NAGPRA makes it very clear (or at least later legal interpretation of NAGPRA makes it very clear) that all prehistoric remains are to be "repatriated," regardless of actual evidence of decent. Case in Point: Kennewick Man. Kennewick Man is a ~10,000 year old skeleton found in Washington state. Anthropologically speaking, it is impossible to show that he has any relation to any living group. In fact, he is completely unlike any living person on Earth (see Jim Chatters' book, Ancient Encounters; while Chatters may not be the best scientist in the world, he is just about the only one to publish anything on Kennewick Man). However, it was originally ruled that Kennewick Man must be given over to modern Indian groups that live in the area. Recent court decisions have gone back and forth a bit, but the general outlook is not good.
In my opinion, NAGPRA is one of the most regressive, anti-scientific laws ever written. When determining where a skeleton or other remains ultimatly end up, it is assumed that all remains will go somewhere. If archaeological or anthropological evidence cannot place remains among any living, federally recognized Indian group, native folklore is taken at face value and the group that claims to have lived in an area "since time immemorial" has the greatest claim.
This is particularly upsetting in the case of Kennewick Man, where archaeological evidence implies that the folk who live in that part of WA now have only been there for the last 2 or 3 thousand years!
Again, to come back to the question that was asked: The laws, as they are written, are not affected by any new theories. Furthermore, the idea of several migrations has been around for a while and is accepted by a large group of archaeologists, even before the evidence of this skull.
Note: I am an archaeologist, and have rather strong feelings on the subject. Sorry to rant.
Rhapsody in Numbers
Significant contamination or atmospheric exchange would be detectable in the mineral structure of the skulls independantly of carbon dating. Additionally, the fact that five skulls all gave the same age in strong evidence against contamination, and shows that good techniques were used thoughout.
Atmospheric carbon does not exchange with bone minerals on these time scales.
The skulls had not previously been dated, unless you wish to show a link for that.