The Life of the Adolescent Paleoindian Female from Hoyo Negro, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Summary

Cave divers discovered remains of an adolescent human female in an immense, submerged chamber of the Sac Actun cave system in 2007. Until recently, her remains had only been studied from photographs, photo-based 3-dimensional models, and minimal sampling. Now her skeleton has been removed from the cave, conserved, and subjected to bioarchaeological, chemical, and histomorphological analysis. Her unusually complete and well-preserved skeleton, a rarity for late Pleistocene females in the Americas, provides striking insights into the lives of women among the earliest Americans. Naia, as she is known, had endured a healed spiral forearm fracture—a potential indicator of rough handling—and died between 15 and 17 years of age, having suffered a period of intense metabolic stress in the last months of her life. Radiographs and macroscopic analysis reveal numerous, strongly patterned Harris lines in her longbones, carious lesions, moderate LEH, malocclusion, dental crowding, and delayed development of the mandible, demonstrating that she struggled to maintain a stable protein supply and providing strong hints about the nature of Paleoindian subsistence in Central America. Dated between 13,000 and 12,000 cal BP, Naia’s remains join the few other early females to suggest that America’s first women led short, difficult lives.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

Keywords

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17468