Los Angeles Times

In the DNA of an ancient infant, scientists find traces of the very first Americans

Across a span of 11,500 years, a baby is speaking to us.

Although she was just an infant when she died, her diminutive remains are helping researchers understand how ancient people first entered and then moved around the Americas.

The little girl recently was given the name Xach'itee'aaneh T'eede Gaay (Sunrise Girl-Child) by indigenous people in the Alaskan interior who live close to the place where her body was found.

Archaeological evidence suggests her family buried her with care in a pit beneath the central hearth in their temporary home. They laid her to rest on a bed of ocher and placed offerings of weapons

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times6 min readAmerican Government
Young Voters Don't Give Biden Credit For Passing The Biggest Climate Bill In History
President Joe Biden spent his Earth Day in a national forest this year with an explicit pitch to young people: a climate jobs corps intended to excite Gen Z the way John F. Kennedy's Peace Corps inspired their grandparents. Biden took a selfie with R
Los Angeles Times3 min readAmerican Government
LZ Granderson: Trump's Racist 'Welfare' Dog Whistle Is Nonsense Just Like Reagan's
Donald Trump took his dog whistle down to Florida last weekend, where he reportedly told a room full of donors: "When you are Democrat, you start off essentially at 40% because you have civil service, you have the unions and you have welfare." He the
Los Angeles Times6 min read
A Tale Of Two Downtowns In LA: As Offices Languish, Apartments Thrive
By many measures, downtown Los Angeles’ newest apartment tower is over the top with such gilded flourishes as stone tiles from Spain lining the elevator cabs and hand-troweled Italian plaster on interior walls. Hummingbirds have somehow found the fru

Related