Millennium-Old Skeleton Found in Mexico

In this 2019 photo provided by Devlin A. Gandy, assistant professor Mikkel Winther Pedersen from the University of Copenhagen takes samples of cave sediments to look for DNA in Zacatecas, central Mexico. Artifacts from the site suggest people were living in North America much earlier than most scientists think. Researchers reported Wednesday, July 22, 2020, that tools found in the cave date to as early as 26,500 years ago, about 10,000 years before the generally accepted date for the earliest human presence in North America. (Devlin A. Gandy via AP)

MEXICO CITY (AFP) — A millennium-old skeleton of a pre-Hispanic man has been unearthed in northeast Mexico, archeologists said Monday, describing it as one of the first of its kind to be discovered complete.

The body of the man, believed to be between 21 and 35 years old, had been placed inside a woven mat with a small mortar as an offering, the National Anthropology and History Institute said.

His remains lay untouched for more than 1,000 years and the skeleton and its position were preserved along with a ceramic relic, the institute said.

He is thought to have lived sometime during the period 400 to 700 AD, it said.

The skeleton was discovered by residents of the state of Tamaulipas constructing the foundations for a water tank, it said.

Categories / International, Science

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