The most significant find came in 2010 and 2013, when the excavation team uncovered the skeletal remains of two infants buried in what had been a hearth feature — a fire pit that had been used for cooking or warmth and that, at some point in the site’s history, had been repurposed as a burial location.

The two infants would eventually be designated USR1 and USR2.

Their discovery, and the scientific and ethical questions it raised, would transform Upward Sun River from a significant regional archaeological site into one of the most important locations in the study of early American prehistory.

Two Infants In A Hearth

The burial of very young children in or near hearths is not a practice unique to any single culture or time period.

It appears in the archaeological record across the globe and across deep time, and while the specific beliefs and practices that motivated such burials varied enormously between cultures, the pattern itself speaks to something recognizable: the care that human communities invest in acknowledging the deaths of their youngest members, even when the practicalities of burial are constrained by season, location, or circumstance.