Anthropologists at the Nevada StateMuseum, US, recently unearthed theoldest known mummy in NorthAmerica, and they found it right ontheir own shelvest The mummy,known as the Spirit Cave man, hadbeen found in a Nevada cave in 1940,but very recent advances in radiocarbon dating helped scientists todetermine, to their amazement,that the remains which theybelieved to date back about 2,000years, were in fact, more than 9,400years old.
The mummy's age was determined by Ervin Taylor, an anthropology professor at the University ofCalifornia at Riverside, who used atechnique known as 'acceleratormass spectrometry' whereby, individual carbon atoms can becounted.
The mummy's great age andexcellent state will provide criticalnew information on what life waslike at the end of the Ice Age, anthropologists said. The cave man waswearing moccasins and was wrappedin shrouds woven from marsh plantsso neatly, that they indicate thathumans of that era used looms. Thefishbones in his intestine speak volumes about his diet. Shortly, themummy is expected to undergointensive testing, including possibleDNA analysis to inveitigate itsgenetic makeup. Although there areolder mummies found in SouthAmerica and North America, theSpirit Cave man is far older than the5,000-years old famous Icemanmummy discovered in the Alps in1991.
"All of a sudden, somethingthat's not that interesting when it's2,000 years old, is earth-shatteringwhen it's 9,000 years old," said anenthused David Hurst Thomas ofthe American Museum of NaturalHistory in New York, who hasresearched the Spirit Cave man'speriod extensively.