Frozen body to reveal old American mysteries

scientists are about to reveal details of the last journey of the only well preserved ancient body found in North America.

Hunters discovered the frozen body of Kwaday Dan Ts'inchi (Long Ago Person Found) in August 1999 while crossing a glacier high in the mountains of north-west British Columbia, Canada, about 60 miles from southern Alaska.
The body, which had become partly exposed as the glacier melted, was dressed in a cloak made from the pelts of Arctic ground squirrels.
The hunter's apparent belongings – including a walking stick, a wooden spear, a bone knife, a leather pouch containing edible leaves and the remains of a fish, and a broad-rimmed hat of surprisingly fine weave – were scattered nearby.
Experts initially believed the design of the tools indicated that the body was that of an aboriginal hunter who lived in so-called pre-contact times, before a group of Russian traders became the first outsiders to visit the region 250 years ago.
It has since been established that the man was probably aged about 20 and that he probably lived as much as 550 to 660 years ago.
At the time the hunter was found there was speculation that he had fallen, wedged upright in a crevasse.
The body was dug out and packed in blocks of ice cut from the glacier to preserve it during a flight by helicopter to cold storage in Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory.
A team of scientists from both sides of the Atlantic became involved in discovering the body's secrets.
It is now led by Professor James Dickson, of the Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow, who is also involved in research of an "iceman" found in the Italian side of the Alps in 1991 by two German climbers. The iceman, nicknamed Otzi, is believed to have drawn his last breath some 5200 years ago.
Professor Dickson said an examination of the North American man's DNA, clothes and stomach contents revealed that he moved inland from the coast shortly before his death.
Tests on his cloak revealed that it contained the remains of two plants normally found in coastal areas.
But they showed the man had not eaten his usual diet of seafood in the last few months before his death.
A North American Indian tribe – known as the Champagne and Aishihik – has claimed Kwaday Dan Ts'inchi as its own. Professor Dickson said the tribe had been kept informed of the research as it progressed.
He said a six-page report – The Holocene – detailing the results of the research to date would be published today.
Professor Dickson said: "This is the first ancient body that has been melted out of anywhere in the Americas. It is the first time that such work has been done in the area.
"On the basis of the carbon dating on his clothing there is no doubt he lived about 550 years ago."

HIS body was entombed under the ice for almost 700 years.
Now, some of the mysteries of ancient civilisation in North America are about to be revealed when scientists unveil some of the details of the last journey of the only well preserved ancient human body ever recovered in the region.
Hunters discovered the frozen body of Kwaday Dan Ts'inchi (Long Ago Person Found) in August 1999 while crossing a glacier high in the mountains of north-west British Columbia, Canada, about 60 miles from southern Alaska.
The body, which had become partly exposed as the glacier melted, was dressed in a cloak made from the pelts of Arctic ground squirrels.
The hunter's apparent belongings – including a walking stick, a wooden spear, a bone knife, a leather pouch containing edible leaves and the remains of a fish, and a broad-rimmed hat of surprisingly fine weave – were scattered nearby.
Experts initially believed the design of the tools indicated that the body was that of an aboriginal hunter who lived in so-called pre-contact times, before a group of Russian traders became the first outsiders to visit the region 250 years ago.
It has since been established that the man was probably aged about 20 and that he probably lived as much as 550 to 660 years ago.
At the time the hunter was found there was speculation that he had fallen, wedged upright in a crevasse.
The body was dug out and packed in blocks of ice cut from the glacier to preserve it during a flight by helicopter to cold storage in Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory.
A team of scientists from both sides of the Atlantic became involved in discovering the body's secrets.
It is now led by Professor James Dickson, of the Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow, who is also involved in research of an "iceman" found in the Italian side of the Alps in 1991 by two German climbers. The iceman, nicknamed Otzi, is believed to have drawn his last breath some 5200 years ago.
Professor Dickson said an examination of the North American man's DNA, clothes and stomach contents revealed that he moved inland from the coast shortly before his death.
Tests on his cloak revealed that it contained the remains of two plants normally found in coastal areas.
But they showed the man had not eaten his usual diet of seafood in the last few months before his death.
A North American Indian tribe – known as the Champagne and Aishihik – has claimed Kwaday Dan Ts'inchi as its own. Professor Dickson said the tribe had been kept informed of the research as it progressed.
He said a six-page report – The Holocene – detailing the results of the research to date would be published today.
Professor Dickson said: "This is the first ancient body that has been melted out of anywhere in the Americas. It is the first time that such work has been done in the area.
"On the basis of the carbon dating on his clothing there is no doubt he lived about 550 years ago."

HIS body was entombed under the ice for almost 700 years.
Now, some of the mysteries of ancient civilisation in North America are about to be revealed when scientists unveil some of the details of the last journey of the only well preserved ancient human body ever recovered in the region.
Hunters discovered the frozen body of Kwaday Dan Ts'inchi (Long Ago Person Found) in August 1999 while crossing a glacier high in the mountains of north-west British Columbia, Canada, about 60 miles from southern Alaska.
The body, which had become partly exposed as the glacier melted, was dressed in a cloak made from the pelts of Arctic ground squirrels.
The hunter's apparent belongings – including a walking stick, a wooden spear, a bone knife, a leather pouch containing edible leaves and the remains of a fish, and a broad-rimmed hat of surprisingly fine weave – were scattered nearby.
Experts initially believed the design of the tools indicated that the body was that of an aboriginal hunter who lived in so-called pre-contact times, before a group of Russian traders became the first outsiders to visit the region 250 years ago.
It has since been established that the man was probably aged about 20 and that he probably lived as much as 550 to 660 years ago.