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Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchì, the first ancient body of a man from a North American glacier: reconstructing his last days by intestinal and biomolecular analyses

Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences and Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK j.dickson{at}bio.gla.ac.uk

Michael P. Richards

Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford, Richmond Road, Bradford BD7 1DP, UK, and Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany

Richard J. Hebda

Royal British Columbia Museum, 675 Belleville Street, Victoria, British Columbia, V8 W 9 W2, Canada

Petra J. Mudie

Geological Survey of Canada Atlantic, PO Box 1006, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, B2 Y 4A2, Canada

Owen Beattie

Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, TóG 2H4, Canada

Susan Ramsay

Department of Archaeology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK

Nancy J. Turner

School of Environmental Studies, PO Box 1700, University of Victoria, British Columbia, VöW 2 Y2, Canada

Bruce J. Leighton

John M. Webster

Niki R. Hobischak

Gail S. Anderson

Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A ISó, Canada

Peter M. Troffe

InStream Fisheries Research, 2641 Venables Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V5K 2R4, Canada

Rebecca J. Wigen

Department of Anthropology, University of Victoria, British Columbia, V8W 2 Y2, Canada

We report on scientific analyses of the only well-preserved ancient human body ever recovered from a North American glacier. The body was found high in the mountains of northwest British Columbia at about 80 km from the nearest point of the strongly indented coast of southern Alaska. The geographical location suggests that the young man, aged about 20 years, could have lived either on the mild coast or in the continental interior. Preliminary environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) and light microscope studies of the contents of the digestive tract reveal pollen of an intertidal salt-marsh plant and pieces of a marine crustacean. Remains of coastal zone plants (a fruit of a flowering plant and a needle of a coniferous tree) had adhered to the deceased's robe. Stable isotope analyses of bone and muscle show that more than 90% of the dietary protein was from marine sources. We conclude that this individual had strong coastal connections during his life and had been on the coast shortly before he died about 550 to 600 years ago.

Key Words: Ancient frozen body • isotopes • palynology • macroscopic plant remains • parasitology • ichthyology • carcinology • palaeodiet • late Holocene • British Columbia

The Holocene, Vol. 14, No. 4, 481-486 (2004)
DOI: 10.1191/0959683604hl742rp


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