The Spirit Cave mummy is the oldest human mummy found in North America. It was discovered in 1940 in Spirit Cave, 13 miles (21 km) east of Fallon, Nevada, United States, by Sydney and Georgia Wheeler, a husband-and-wife archaeological team. Studies of the remains showed similarities to the indigenous peoples of North and South America. In 2016, the remains were returned to the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe of Nevada. The Spirit Cave mummy was among the first to be dated using a special type of radiocarbon dating called accelerated mass spectrometer dating. Its discovery and study helped scientists learn more about the timeline of events in the western Great Basin region.
Discovery
The Wheelers, who worked for the Nevada State Parks Commission, were checking possible archaeological sites to stop them from being lost because of guano mining. When they entered Spirit Cave, they found the remains of two people wrapped in tule matting. One set of remains, buried deeper than the other, had been partially mummified, with the head and right shoulder preserved. This partially mummified individual, known as the Spirit Cave mummy, was wearing moccasins and wrapped in a rabbit-skin blanket when placed there. The Wheelers, with help from local residents, found sixty-seven artifacts in the cave.
These artifacts were studied at the Nevada State Museum, where they were first thought to be about 1,500 to 2,000 years old. They were stored at the Nevada State Museum's facility in Carson City, where they stayed for 54 years.
Spirit Cave is located at 4,154 feet (1,266 m) in the foothills of the Stillwater Mountains. The Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge was created in this area. It is located northeast of Fallon, Nevada. Similar features in the Spirit Cave remains clearly connect them to other remains found in different areas, like the Wizard Beach man and the Crypt Cave dog burial.
Dating
In 1996, an anthropologist from the University of California, Riverside named R. Ervi Taylor studied seventeen items from the Spirit Cave using a scientific method called mass spectrometry. The results showed the mummy was about 9,400 years old (uncalibrated RCYBP; approximately 11,500 years old when adjusted for accuracy) — older than any other mummy found in North America before. Scientists believe the person died around 7420 B.C. Earlier, the mummy was thought to be between 1,500 and 2,000 years old until the carbon dating tests were completed.
The study was published in the Nevada Historical Quarterly in 1997 and received a lot of attention from people across the country.
Repatriation and DNA Analysis
In March 1997, the Paiute-Shoshone Tribe of the Fallon Reservation and Colony submitted a claim under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) to establish a cultural connection with certain artifacts.
In 2000, additional research could not confirm a clear link between the remains and any specific group.
In September 2006, the United States District Court for the District of Nevada ruled in a lawsuit brought by the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe. The court found that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had made a mistake by dismissing evidence without providing a full explanation. The court ordered the BLM to review the evidence again.
In October 2015, Eske Willerslev collected bone and tooth samples from the remains with the permission of the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe. DNA testing showed the remains were similar to those of indigenous groups in North and South America. On November 22, 2016, the remains were returned to the tribe. Willerslev attended the 2018 burial ceremony held by the tribe.
In November 2018, researchers shared findings that DNA sequencing of the remains was used to study Paleoamericans (Y-haplogroup Q1b1a1a1-M848, mt-haplogroup D1).
Wizards Beach Man
The remains of a man from the same time period, known as Wizards Beach Man, were also in the collection of the Nevada State Museum. These remains were radiocarbon dated at the same time as the Spirit Cave Man. The dating showed that Wizards Beach Man was another early Holocene skeleton from almost the same time period.
Wizards Beach Man was discovered in 1978 at Wizards Beach on Pyramid Lake, which is approximately 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Spirit Cave. Radiocarbon dating has determined that he lived more than 9,200 years ago.
Lovelock Cave, another significant early site, is also nearby.