First ‘Iceman’ Found in North America

Hunters crossing a glacier in northern Canada have discovered the well-preserved frozen body of an early Native American--the first “iceman” found in North America.

Experts say the body is at least hundreds of years old, and may be thousands. The design of its tools and clothing indicates the body is that of an aborigine who lived in so-called pre-contact times, before Europeans came into the area in the 1700s.

But the body could be much older than that. Some of the tools found with it have functions that are unknown today, suggesting that the cadaver could be thousands of years old--perhaps even dating from the period 12,000 years ago when humans are thought to have first entered North America from Asia across a land bridge over the Bering Strait.

The discovery was announced Tuesday by the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, a confederation of tribal villages in southwest Yukon and northwest British Columbia. No pictures of the body were released because tribal officials view the remains as a person rather than an archeological specimen.

The body and artifacts, which are being stored in Whitehorse in the Yukon, will be carefully studied, said Diane Strand, the heritage resource officer for the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations in Haines Junction, Yukon. But the remains “will be treated with dignity and respect,” she said.

The body was discovered more than a week ago by hunters traveling on foot in Tatshenshini-Alsek Park, which is in extreme northwestern British Columbia, not far from the Yukon and Alaskan borders. They reported the discovery to the Yukon government in Whitehorse on Aug. 16. Government officials immediately began organizing an expedition to retrieve the remains.

That team, under the direction of archeologist Owen Beattie of the University of Alberta, included state archeologists, a forensic anthropologist, a glaciologist, an artifact conservator and representatives from the tribal group. They retrieved the body Monday and took it to Whitehorse.

Officials are not yet releasing much information about the discovery. A statement Tuesday said, “We cannot at present specify what cultural group this person belonged to, or determine how long ago he or she died. The cause of death is not known at present, but preliminary evidence indicates that this person died after falling into a glacier crevasse.”

Added Strand: “We can’t even guesstimate how old it is.”

Some of the tools carried by the iceman are strikingly similar to those used by Indians in the region in the recent past, she said. “But some of the tools, we don’t know what they are. There is a lot to learn.”

Several “icemen” have been found in recent years. The body of an ancient shepherd was found in 1991 in a glacier on the Italy-Austria border. Officials initially thought it was of recent origin, but it was subsequently found to me more than 5,000 years old.

Frozen mummies also have been found recently in the mountains of South America.