niversity of Alaska Fairbanks professors Ben Potter and Josh Reuther excavate the burial pit at the Upward Sun River site. Photo from Ben Potter

The Tanana Chiefs Conference in Alaska gave its blessing to the study of two infants that are among the oldest ever discovered in northern North America.

Archaeologists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks worked with TCC and area tribes on the best way to handle the remains, which date back 11,500 years. The infants were discovered near the Tanana River and were buried in a manner that sheds light on Native culture and history.

"The reason that personally I've supported it is one of curiosity and one of proof that our Native diets have connection to our health and well-being," Jerry Isacc, a former president of TCC, told The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

Professor Ben Potter authored a paper on the 2013 find. The infants were buried near the same spot where the cremated remains of a 3-year-old child were uncovered in 2010.

“Taken collectively, these burials and cremation reflect complex behaviors related to death among the early inhabitants of North America,” Potter said in a press release.

The infants were buried with hunting tools -- shaped stone points and antler foreshafts, Potter said.

Get the Story:
Remains of Ice Age infants found at Tanana River site (The Fairbanks Daily News Miner 11/11)
emains of ice-age infants unearthed in Interior Alaska among oldest in North America (The Alaska Dispatch News 11/11)
Remains of Ice Age infants found in Alaska called milestone for era's youngest human remains (AP 11/11)