New insights into Eastern Beringian mortuary behavior: a terminal Pleistocene double infant burial at Upward Sun River.

ABSTRACT: Here we report on the discovery of two infant burials dating to ∼11,500 calibrated years (cal) B.P. at the Upward Sun River site in central Alaska. The infants were interred in a pit feature with associated organic and lithic grave goods, including the earliest known North American hafted bifaces with decorated antler foreshafts. Skeletal and dental analyses indicate that Individual 1 died shortly after birth and Individual 2 was a late-term fetus, making these the youngest-aged late Pleistocene individuals known for the Americas and the only known prenate, offering, to our knowledge, the first opportunity to explore mortuary treatment of the youngest members of a terminal Pleistocene North American population. This burial was situated ∼40 cm directly below a cremated 3-y-old child previou

SUBMITTER: Potter BA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4260572 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature