Not because they were important — not because anyone knew they would be found, or that they would matter, or that they contained a genetic record that would change what humanity knew about the deep history of the species.

They were preserved because the ground was cold and because the chemistry of the frozen sediment happened to maintain the organic molecules within them against decomposition.

And when they were finally found — in the sediment of a site already remarkable for its archaeological richness, among thousands of other artifacts and animal remains — they were recognized as human remains of scientific significance and preserved for analysis.

And when the sequencing technology existed to read their DNA, they were sampled and analyzed with methods that had not existed when they were found.