Teen skeleton found by Mexico cave divers has scientists breathless

[unhappycamper]

http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-mexico-skeleton-divers-20140530-story.html



Divers' lights illuminate the Hoyo Negro, an underwater cave in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, where the remains of a 12,000-year-old teenage girl were found.

Teen skeleton found by Mexico cave divers has scientists breathless
Tracy Wilkinson
5.30.2014

Alejandro Alvarez's eyes widened against the dark underwater void that would become known as the Black Hole on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

His flashlight shined on ancient bones from extinct species, and eventually he would discover the hemisphere's oldest, most complete skeleton, a find that may transform the way we think about the development of American man.

"What in the world is this?" Alvarez recalls thinking. He and two diving buddies with him knew that they had stumbled across something special.



~snip~

The discovery of the 12,000-year-old skeleton of a teenage girl occurred seven years ago but wasn't announced until this month, after additional, sometimes-risky exploration and detailed scientific investigation.

[Feral Child]

1. Fascinating!

Thanks, sadguy.

[Little Star]

2. Wow! k&r

[hlthe2b]

3. I love stories like this. Tremendous

[ErikJ]

4. Gomphotheriidae

Wikipedia: The Gomphotheriidae were a diverse taxonomic family of extinct elephant-like animals (proboscideans) — referred to as gomphotheres. They were widespread in North America during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, 12-1.6 million years ago. Some lived in parts of Eurasia, Beringia and, following the Great American Interchange, South America. Beginning about 5 million years ago, they were gradually replaced by modern elephants, but the last two South American species, in the genus Cuvieronius, did not finally become extinct until possibly as recently as 9,100 BP,[2] and Stegomastodon remains have been dated as recently as 6,060 BP in the Valle del Magdalena, Colombia.[3] Gomphotheres also survived in Mexico and Central America until the end of the Pleistocene.[4]

[Enthusiast]

6. Gomphotheres are cool.

[itsrobert]

5. Maybe it was a volcano at one time

and the natives threw her in as a sacrifice.

[IrishAyes]

12. That's the likelier scenario.

[loudsue]

14. If it was a volcano, she would have burned...bones and all. n/t

[Enthusiast]

7. This is an incredible discovery.

[TBF]

8. Interesting story!

Must have been so exciting for those divers.

[tclambert]

9. I'll bet 12,000 years ago some parents told their daughter not to play near those caves . . .

but do teenagers ever listen?

[Marrah_G]

13. lol so true!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

10. I assume the cave wasn't flooded back then.

[tomm2thumbs]

11. and Gertrude the Duck