The underwater finding

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For the first time in Mexico we are able to watch the face of one of our most remote ancestors in the American Continent. She was named Mujer de las Palmas, and she lived in the Ice Age (10,000 years ago) in what today we call Yucatan Peninsula. She was removed in 2002 from a profound flooded cave near Tulum, Quintana Roo by specialists of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).

Reconstruction of the physical aspect of one of the 3 earliest human skeletons in America found at the oriental coast of Quintana Roo was conducted as part of the “Underwater Archaeological Atlas for the Register, Study and Protection of Cenotes in the Peninsula Yucatan” Project, developed by INAH.
 
Recreation of how this woman could have looked like was made using patterns established by Mexican physical anthropologists, who determined that the skeleton found by speleodivers James Coke and Jeronimo Aviles in the cave known as Las Palmas, corresponded to a woman between 44 and 50 years old at the time of death, with an approximate height of 152 centimeters and a 58 kilos weight.  

Identification of Mujer de las Palmas was possible thanks to the fact that the skeleton was found almost complete (90% of it) and in a good conservation state, allowing the performance of the most advanced studies of forensic anthropology.  

The full-length sculpture created in France offers an approximation to the physical characteristics that Mujer de las Palmas could have had. She dates from 10,000 to 12,000 years back, and is exhibited at the “390 ppm. Planeta alterado. Cambios climáticos y México” exposition in Guanajuato.

The body structure, skin and eyes are similar to those of Southeast Asia people, reinforcing the hypothesis that points out that migrations to America arrived not just from Northern Asia but from the central and southern areas.

The project continues with the cooperation of several institutions and researchers from INAH, Museo del Desierto in Coahuila and the UNAM Institute of Anthropological Investigations coordinated by biologist Arturo Gonzales, while physical anthropology studies are headed by Alejandro Terrazas with the collaboration of Martha Benavente. Until now, salvage and study of 3 skeletons has been possible: Mujer de las Palmas, Mujer de Naharon and Hombre de El Templo.

According to Alejandro Terrazas, physical anthropologist at UNAM (National University of Mexico), reconstruction of Mujer de las Palmas was done based on forensic anthropology criteria.

“The sculpture was created in Atelier Daynés, the same workshop that made the Lucy (the 3.2 million years old) reconstitution exhibited at the Introduction Hall at the National Museum of Anthropology (MNA).

Terrazas remarked that one of the discoveries resulted from the study of her skull is that her physiognomy do not correspond with the characteristics of Mexican indigenous population nor with ancient inhabitants of America, “her face is more similar to people from Southeast Asia”.   

The scientific declared that this indicates that American Continent was populated by several migratory movements, not only by one or two waves from Northern Asia that arrived through Bering Strait, as most popular theories sustain.   

“History is not that simple, there were a lot of movements. What Mujer de las Palmas reveals is that there were more migrations from Southern and Central Asia that resulted in a local evolution in America,  producing a great diversity of populations that already existed when Clovis Culture developed (13,500 years ago).  

“Our position to present, thanks to studies performed to Mujer de las Palmas, is that the model of two migrations of Paleoamericans and Amerindians is very limited. We propose models based on the fact that phenomena of local micro evolution were more important than migrations”. 

Jorge René González M.
ISBN: 978-607-484-060-5    
Edición: INAH
Colección: Fuentes
Páginas: 164
Año: 2010

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