Skeleton of an ancient Indigenous American woman
The Buhl Woman was an Paleoindian Indigenous American woman whose remains were found in a quarry near Buhl, Idaho, United States, in January 1989. The remains are thought to have been deliberately buried. Radiocarbon dating has placed the age of the skeleton at 12,740–12,420 calibrated years before present, making her remains some of the oldest in the Americas, though the quality of the dating has been questioned.
History of discovery.
The remains of the Buhl Woman were uncovered in 1989, when workers at a gravel quarry in Buhl, Idaho noticed a femur in a rock crusher. They then notified Herrett Center for Arts and Science, who along with the workers uncovered and collected more bones, which were eroding from the base of an approximately high exposure of sediment.
Scientific analysis.
Analysis of the skeleton suggests that it had disarticulated after burial but prior to being discovered. Many of the bones from the lower half of the skeleton were not recovered and are thought to have been destroyed by quarrying.
An analysis of the skeleton showed that Buhla was between 17 and 21 years old, tall, and was in general good health. The cause of death could not be determined.
Carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of Buhla's bone collagen suggests that Buhl woman ate a diet high in meat, as well as anadromous fish like salmon. The wear patterns in her teeth indicated that the meat was cooked before eating. Her teeth showed signs of heavy wear caused by sand or grit, wear that would be consistent with the use of stone grinding or pounding. Defects in tooth enamel and lines of interrupted growth on her femur indicate periodic malnutrition. This nutritional stress could be seasonal and/or the result of childhood diseases.
No genetic testing was done, and there is disagreement concerning the morphology of the skull. Anthropologist Todd Fenton of Michigan State University has indicated that the skull's morphology is similar to that of American Indian, while according to anthropologist Richard Jantz of the University of Tennessee, "She doesn't fit into any modern group but is most similar to today's Polynesians."
Buhla's right cheek lay atop a pressure-flaked, pointed obsidian tool. Since this tool shows no sign of wear, and since the positioning of this tool seems deliberate, it has been theorized that it was made as a grave offering. In addition, fragments from what could be an awl or pin and a broken bone needle were found with the skeleton, along with an incised badger baculum (penis bone). Like the obsidian tool, the eye of the bone needle showed no signs of wear.
The obsidian tool is considered to be of the Western Stemmed Tradition (WST), a Paleoindian tradition possibly overlapping with the more well-known Clovis culture. The lack of dates associated with the WST have made the Buhl Burial an important site for the chronology of this tradition relative to other Paleoindian cultures like the Clovis culture. Radiocarbon dating of the collagen in the bones in 1991 gave a date of 10,675 ± 95 14C years Before Present, corresponding to a calibrated true chronological age of 12,740–12,420 years Before Present. However, the veracity of this date has been questioned, due to the collagen not undergoing ultrafiltration to remove contamination as is standard in modern radiocarbon dating, along with the significant proportion of fish in her diet possibly making the radiocarbon age artificially too old, meaning the skeleton may actually be younger than the calibrated age.
Reburial.
The Buhl Woman was found on State land, not federal, so the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) did not apply. She was repatriated under State of Idaho Statute, the general provisions of which are that remains determined to be Native American are to be returned to the nearest federally recognized Tribe, in this instance, the Shoshone–Bannock Tribes at Fort Hall. In 1992, the remains and the artifacts were turned over to the Shoshone–Bannock of Fort Hall over the strenuous objections of many archaeologists, and despite the lack of evidence linking the woman with this tribe. The tribe reburied the remains in 1993.
References.
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