Researchers in Alaska have found the earliest known evidence that Ice Age humans in North America used salmon1 as a food source, according to a new paper published this week in the Proceedings2 of the National Academy of Sciences. The findings counter traditionally held beliefs that Ice Age Paleoindians were primarily big-game hunters. They are based on analysis of 11,500-year-old chum salmon bones found by University of Alaska Fairbanks anthropologist3 Ben Potter and colleagues at the Upward Sun River site in Interior Alaska. Excavation4 of the site has revealed human dwellings5, tools and human remains6, as well as the salmon bones.Salmon fishing has deep roots, and we now know that salmon have been consumed by North American humans at least 11,500 years ago, said lead author Carrin Halffman, a UAF anthropologist who helped analyze7 the fish bones with co-authors Brian Kemp of Washington State University, Potter and others.The findings also suggest that salmon spawning8 runs were established much earlier and much farther north than previously9 thought, at the end of the Pleistocene epoch10, also known as the last Ice Age.Ancient DNA11 and stable isoTOPe12 analysis verified the fish remains as sea-run chum salmon that migrated upriver some 1,400 kilometers from where the mouth of the Yukon River now exists. These analyses indicate that modern salmon migrations13 may have ancient roots, dating back to at least the end of the last Ice Age.We have cases where salmon become landlocked and have very different isoTOPic14 signatures than marine15 salmon. Combining genetic16 and isoTOPic analyses allow us to confirm the identity as chum salmon, which inhabit the area today, as well as establish their life histories, said Potter. Both are necessary to understand how humans used these resources.
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1 salmon n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的 参考例句： We saw a salmon jumping in the waterfall there.大家看见一条大马哈鱼在那边瀑布中跳跃。 Do you have any fresh salmon in at the moment目前有新鲜大马哈鱼卖吗？
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