Naia (skeleton)

Naia is a 12,000 to 13,000-year old human skeleton of a teenage female that was found in Mexico. The bones were part of a 2007 discovery of a cache of animal bones in an underwater chamber called Hoyo Negro (Spanish for "Black Hole") in the Sac Actun cave system.^[1] The remains have been described as the "oldest, most complete and genetically intact human skeleton in the New World".^[2] Her name is derived from a type of water nymph in Greek mythology - the Naiads.

The morphological traits of Naia's skull have been regarded as similar to those of Kennewick Man, a set of well-preserved Paleoamerican remains discovered in 1996, and other Paleomerican skeletons.^[3] DNA testing of Naia has classified the MtDNA Subhaplotype as D1, which is common in modern Native Americans.^[3] Ancient skeletons on Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan, have also revealed MtDNA with a classification of Subhaplotype D1.^[4] However, some argue that the origin of Subhaplotype D1 was in Beringia.^[5] The purported Beringian origin of Subhaplotype D1 has led some to the opinion that Naia's heritage is with the migration out of Siberia to Beringia.^[6]

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