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Research on a recently rediscovered 9,000-year-old child's tooth has helped to better understand the ancient peoples of Alaska, their genetic background and their diet.
The tooth is only the third vestige known to a population of early migrants known as the ancient Beringians. This discovery, combined with previous research conducted by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, indicates that the ancient Beringians remained in Alaska for thousands of years after their first migration to the Bering Land Bridge connecting East Asia to Alaska.
The tooth survey, conducted by researchers from the UAF and National Park Service in Alaska, was part of a larger article published on November 8 in the newspaper Science. This research included a genetic analysis of 15 bone samples from sites in North and South America, revealing an overview of how the Americas were populated by its early peoples.
The tooth of Alaska had been largely forgotten since its 1949 excavation by Danish archaeologists at the Trail Creek Caves site on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska. For nearly 70 years, it was stored in Copenhagen, Denmark, until it was discovered in 2016 by Jeff Rasic, NPS archaeologist based in Fairbanks, who was conducting new analyzes of this ancient collection. .
Radiocarbon dating determined that the tooth, which belonged to a 1.5 year old child, is by far the oldest human specimen in the North American Arctic – more than twice as old as the remains the oldest. Genomic tests have made it possible to connect the tooth to the old line of Beringia. The first traces of this population were discovered in 2013 by a team led by Professor Ben Potter of the UAF on a site located inside Alaska.
"This little tooth is a treasure trove of information about the first populations of Alaska, not only about their genetic affinities, but also about their movements, their interactions with others and their diet," Rasic said. .
When examined together, these two sites – distant about 400 km and 2,500 years old – show that ancient Beringians were present on the vast expanse of Alaska for millennia.
"This new discovery confirms our predictions that the ancient Beringians are directly linked to the cultural group known as the Denali complex, which was widespread in Alaska and the Yukon Territory 12,500 at about 6,000 years ago." said Potter, who was not involved in this project. the paper of science.
The researchers worked with tribal leaders from the village of Deering, Seward Peninsula, to coordinate efforts to study the tooth.
The analysis performed at the UAF Stable Isotope Facility in Alaska also revealed surprising details about the child's life and, by proxy, the mother who fed the child. By studying the chemical signatures preserved in the tooth, Matthew Wooller, Director of ASIF, was able to analyze their diet.
"The child's food sources were entirely terrestrial, which contrasted strongly with other sites that indicate the inclusion of anadromous fish and marine resources." said Wooller, who also works at the College of Ocean Sciences and Oceans at the UAF and at the Center for Water and Environmental Research.
This land-based diet is a surprise: during the period when the child was living in the Seward Peninsula, the sea level rose to an almost modern level. The rising waters had cut off the Bering land bridge and encircled most of the peninsula, making marine resources accessible.
Other results and isotope modeling, conducted by Rasic, Wooller and Clement Bataille from the University of Ottawa, also determined that the family resided in the area surrounding the caves and wastes. were not migrants from Alaska or Siberia.
"The combination of isotopic signatures found in the tooth is quite specific to the Seward Peninsula, making it very likely a local origin of the family," Bataille said.
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