Mobility was essential — no fixed territory could support a human population year-round in these conditions, and the communities of the region followed the seasonal movements of their prey.

The child at Mal’ta was born into this world.

He lived in it for three or four years.

And then he died in it, probably from causes that the cold and the challenging conditions of the Pleistocene steppe made more likely: illness, injury, the accidents of a life lived in demanding environments.

His community buried him with extraordinary care in a world that demanded all of them, all the time, simply to continue existing.

The Long Journey Of The Genome