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One of the oldest skeletons ever seen in the Americas was found in a flooded cave - and it could reshape our understanding of human history

One of the oldest skeletons ever seen in the Americas was found in a flooded cave - and it could reshape our understanding of human history

Underwater archaeologists first found the skeleton deep within the flooded Sac Aktun Cave System in Mexico in 2007.

Within the flooded caves, the archaeologists uncovered a deep pit — dubbed the Hoyo Negro (Black Hole) — containing fossils of Ice Age beasts and an almost completely intact human skeleton.

NOVA followed the divers through the narrow, submerged passageways as they excavated the find.

Bringing an intact skeleton up through pitch-black passages like these requires careful teamwork, top-notch equipment, and coordination.

The divers named the skeleton, a girl who was approximately 15 or 16 years-old, "Naia."

Dr. James Chatters, a forensic anthropologist, analyzed the bones and found that Naia lived a life of hardship.

Based on an analysis of her teeth, Chatters found that Naia was malnourished and that her diet was based mostly on hunting big game.

Despite being discovered in a cave a short distance from the ocean, Chatters couldn't find any indication that Naia had feasted on marine life.

This led the team to conclude that Naia and her group were probably new arrivals to the area and ill-equipped to survive.

Further DNA analysis of Naia's skeleton shows an even more astonishing find. Naia is directly related to 11,000-year-old graves excavated by anthropologists and archaeologists in Alaska.

Researchers think this means that the entire population of Native Americans, from the tip of South America to the Arctic, are descended from the same population of intrepid hunter-gatherers who crossed a land bridge from Siberia thousands of years ago.

By reconstructing Naia's life, researchers hope to gain a critical window into understanding the lifestyles of the earliest Americans.

Naia represents a huge milestone in the decades-long effort to understand where Native Americans came from — and the history of North and South America.

You can stream the documentary now on PBS.