Child's remains, artifacts from oldest-known burial site in North America are from same era, study s

Four years after the remains of a 12,700-year-old infant boy were reburied near Wilsall, he continues to be the subject of scientific speculation and study.

The so-called Anzick-1 child and the more than 100 bone and stone tools that were buried near him were from the same era, according to research by Lorena Becerra-Valdivia and co-authors recently published in the scientific journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences).

Previous work had shown a “discrepancy” between the dates for Anzick-1 and portions of the Clovis-era tool cache, casting some doubt about whether they were buried at the same time, wrote Becerra-Valdivia, who works at the University of Oxford.


“Considering the site’s uniqueness (as the only known Clovis burial) and the existing … age discrepancy between the human remains (Anzick-1) and the associated Clovis assemblage, obtaining robust chronometric data for this site is crucial,” the paper stated.