The earliest settlers of Mesoamerica date back to the late Pleistocene.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 28854194.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0183345 and PMC identifier 5576649.
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Abstract
Preceramic human skeletal remains preserved in submerged caves near Tulum in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, Mexico, reveal conflicting results regarding 14C dating. Here we use U-series techniques for dating a stalagmite overgrowing the pelvis of a human skeleton discovered in the submerged Chan Hol cave. The oldest closed system U/Th age comes from around 21 mm above the pelvis defining the terminus ante quem for the pelvis to 11311±370 y BP. However, the skeleton might be considerable older, probably as old as 13 ky BP as indicated by the speleothem stable isotope data. The Chan Hol individual confirms a late Pleistocene settling of Mesoamerica and represents one of the oldest human osteological remains in America.
Medical subject headings
- Caves
- Fossils
- Paleontology
- Radiometric Dating