At Upward Sun River, the hearth in which the infants were buried had been used as a cooking feature before the burials occurred.

The transition from functional hearth to burial location — and the care with which the infants were placed within it — was clear from the archaeological evidence.

The children were not randomly deposited or casually discarded.

They were placed deliberately, in a specific configuration, in a location that had been part of the life of the people who buried them.

USR1 was the more completely preserved of the two infants.

Her skeletal remains were in sufficient condition to provide meaningful physical information and, crucially, to yield usable ancient DNA.