Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchì, the first ancient body of a man from a North American glacier: reconstructing his last days by intestinal and biomolecular analyses
We report on scientific analyses of the only well-preserved ancient human body ever recovered from a North American glacier. The body was found high in the mountains of northwest British Columbia at about 80 km from the nearest point of the strongly indented coast of southern Alaska. The geographica...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/0959683604hl742rp http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1191/0959683604hl742rp |
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crsagepubl:10.1191/0959683604hl742rp 2023-05-15T16:20:36+02:00 Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchì, the first ancient body of a man from a North American glacier: reconstructing his last days by intestinal and biomolecular analyses Dickson, James H. Richards, Michael P. Hebda, Richard J. Mudie, Petra J. Beattie, Owen Ramsay, Susan Turner, Nancy J. Leighton, Bruce J. Webster, John M. Hobischak, Niki R. Anderson, Gail S. Troffe, Peter M. Wigen, Rebecca J. 2004 http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/0959683604hl742rp http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1191/0959683604hl742rp en eng SAGE Publications http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license The Holocene volume 14, issue 4, page 481-486 ISSN 0959-6836 1477-0911 Paleontology Earth-Surface Processes Ecology Archeology Global and Planetary Change journal-article 2004 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1191/0959683604hl742rp 2022-04-14T04:33:44Z We report on scientific analyses of the only well-preserved ancient human body ever recovered from a North American glacier. The body was found high in the mountains of northwest British Columbia at about 80 km from the nearest point of the strongly indented coast of southern Alaska. The geographical location suggests that the young man, aged about 20 years, could have lived either on the mild coast or in the continental interior. Preliminary environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) and light microscope studies of the contents of the digestive tract reveal pollen of an intertidal salt-marsh plant and pieces of a marine crustacean. Remains of coastal zone plants (a fruit of a flowering plant and a needle of a coniferous tree) had adhered to the deceased's robe. Stable isotope analyses of bone and muscle show that more than 90% of the dietary protein was from marine sources. We conclude that this individual had strong coastal connections during his life and had been on the coast shortly before he died about 550 to 600 years ago. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Alaska SAGE Publications (via Crossref) The Holocene 14 4 481 486 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
SAGE Publications (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crsagepubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Paleontology Earth-Surface Processes Ecology Archeology Global and Planetary Change |
spellingShingle |
Paleontology Earth-Surface Processes Ecology Archeology Global and Planetary Change Dickson, James H. Richards, Michael P. Hebda, Richard J. Mudie, Petra J. Beattie, Owen Ramsay, Susan Turner, Nancy J. Leighton, Bruce J. Webster, John M. Hobischak, Niki R. Anderson, Gail S. Troffe, Peter M. Wigen, Rebecca J. Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchì, the first ancient body of a man from a North American glacier: reconstructing his last days by intestinal and biomolecular analyses |
topic_facet |
Paleontology Earth-Surface Processes Ecology Archeology Global and Planetary Change |
description |
We report on scientific analyses of the only well-preserved ancient human body ever recovered from a North American glacier. The body was found high in the mountains of northwest British Columbia at about 80 km from the nearest point of the strongly indented coast of southern Alaska. The geographical location suggests that the young man, aged about 20 years, could have lived either on the mild coast or in the continental interior. Preliminary environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) and light microscope studies of the contents of the digestive tract reveal pollen of an intertidal salt-marsh plant and pieces of a marine crustacean. Remains of coastal zone plants (a fruit of a flowering plant and a needle of a coniferous tree) had adhered to the deceased's robe. Stable isotope analyses of bone and muscle show that more than 90% of the dietary protein was from marine sources. We conclude that this individual had strong coastal connections during his life and had been on the coast shortly before he died about 550 to 600 years ago. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Dickson, James H. Richards, Michael P. Hebda, Richard J. Mudie, Petra J. Beattie, Owen Ramsay, Susan Turner, Nancy J. Leighton, Bruce J. Webster, John M. Hobischak, Niki R. Anderson, Gail S. Troffe, Peter M. Wigen, Rebecca J. |
author_facet |
Dickson, James H. Richards, Michael P. Hebda, Richard J. Mudie, Petra J. Beattie, Owen Ramsay, Susan Turner, Nancy J. Leighton, Bruce J. Webster, John M. Hobischak, Niki R. Anderson, Gail S. Troffe, Peter M. Wigen, Rebecca J. |
author_sort |
Dickson, James H. |
title |
Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchì, the first ancient body of a man from a North American glacier: reconstructing his last days by intestinal and biomolecular analyses |
title_short |
Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchì, the first ancient body of a man from a North American glacier: reconstructing his last days by intestinal and biomolecular analyses |
title_full |
Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchì, the first ancient body of a man from a North American glacier: reconstructing his last days by intestinal and biomolecular analyses |
title_fullStr |
Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchì, the first ancient body of a man from a North American glacier: reconstructing his last days by intestinal and biomolecular analyses |
title_full_unstemmed |
Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchì, the first ancient body of a man from a North American glacier: reconstructing his last days by intestinal and biomolecular analyses |
title_sort |
kwäday dän ts'ìnchì, the first ancient body of a man from a north american glacier: reconstructing his last days by intestinal and biomolecular analyses |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2004 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1191/0959683604hl742rp http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1191/0959683604hl742rp |
genre |
glacier Alaska |
genre_facet |
glacier Alaska |
op_source |
The Holocene volume 14, issue 4, page 481-486 ISSN 0959-6836 1477-0911 |
op_rights |
http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1191/0959683604hl742rp |
container_title |
The Holocene |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
481 |
op_container_end_page |
486 |
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1766008537805225984 |