Paleoindian Child Burial in Alaska: The Upward Sun River Mouth Site

Joint investigations by University of Alaska archaeologists and Alaskan Natives at the Upward Sun River Mouth site in central Alaska have identified a Paleoindian burial in Beringia, one of the earliest (and youngest) known burials in the Americas.

Map of Beringia and the location of Upward Sun River Mouth Site. Photo courtesy Ben A. Potter

The site, known as the Upward Sun River Mouth site or Xaasaa Na'in [haw-SAW NA] in the Athabaskan language, is a multicomponent site buried within a sand dune. The burial is of a 2-4 year old child, who researchers believe was placed in a storage pit in a house floor and then cremated. The child, the house, the hearths and a collection of stone tools date to about 11,500 years ago, similar in date to Clovis Paleoindians found throughout North America. However, the artifacts and human remains are, say researchers, more closely associated with eastern Siberian sites of similar and earlier ages than those of Clovis to the south. The presence of salmon among the animal bone at the site shows the residents had a familiarity with maritime resources that you would expect from recent colonizers.

Upward Sun River Mouth is more evidence, if you needed it, of an early stream of colonizers into the North American continent from eastern Siberia along the Bering Land Bridge. The details of the well-preserved house, artifacts, and of course, the burial, provide us insight into lifeways of some of the earliest residents of the Americas.

Excavating at Xaasaa Na' in August 2010. Image courtesy of Ben A. Potter

The best thing about the Upward Sun River Mouth site, as far as I'm concerned, is that Component 3, with its house, hearth and burial, is only the third oldest occupation at the site. Two more occupations lie as-yet unexcavated and buried beneath the house and burial. The oldest, dated to ca. 13,200 years ago, is pre-Clovis, and has so far yielded evidence of stone tool making, a hearth and some burned animal bone. If the level of preservation seen in the upper deposits is mirrored in the lower occupations, Upward Sun River Mouth Site may be a very interesting site indeed.

The Upward Sun River Mouth site will be reported in the February 25th issue of Science magazine, and will appear here on Friday.

Potter BA, Irish JD, Reuther JD, Gelvin-Reymiller C, and Holliday VT. 2011. A Terminal Pleistocene child cremation and residential structure from Eastern Beringia. Science 331:1058-1062.

• Upward Sun River Mouth Site, more details on the site and burial
• Ushki Lakes, Siberia
• The Original Colonization of America
• Bering Land Bridge

News Stories Elsewhere

• Child's Bones Are Earliest Human Remains Found in Arctic Region, Sindya N. Bhando in the New York Times
• Child's 11,500-Year-Old Remains Unearthed In Alaska, NPR
• Ice Age Child Found in Prehistoric Alaskan Home, National Geographic
• 11,500-Year-Old Remains of Cremated 3-Year-Old Discovered , Live Science