Tuesday, June 19, 2018

COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS—The Billings Gazette reports that continued analysis of the remains of the so-called Anzick-1 child and the more than 100 antler and stone tools found near his grave in Montana has shown that they all date to the Clovis period, between 13,000 and 12,700 years ago. Discovered on the Anzick family property in 1968 during construction work, the body and the tools had all been covered with red ochre. Previous study of the remains indicated the child died some 12,700 years ago, but questioned whether the tools had been buried at the same time. Some scholars thought the antler artifacts may have been handed down over generations, thus accounting for their older dates. The new tests, conducted from samples retrieved before the remains were reburied in 2014, isolated the amino acid hydroxyproline from the human bones and the antler artifacts, in order to conduct a test that would not be affected by contamination with modern carbon. This time, both the human remains and the antler artifacts were dated to between 12,725 and 12,900 years old. “It’s reassuring,” said molecular biologist Sarah Anzick, whose parents own the property where the child was found. “It’s a Clovis burial.” For more on the Anzick burial, go to “First American Family Tree.”