The site was excavated by a team led by Ben Potter of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and it produced, among other evidence, the remains of human infants associated with a hearth feature dated to approximately 11,500 calendar years ago.

The site’s infant burials — which include the individual designated USR1 — are among the oldest known human burials in Alaska and among the oldest in the Americas more broadly.

The discovery of infant burials of this antiquity in Alaska was itself a significant finding, providing direct evidence of human occupation of the Alaskan interior during the earliest period following the initial human dispersal into the Americas.

When ancient-DNA analysis was applied to the USR1 remains — the results published in the same 2018 Science paper that included the Trail Creek data — the genomic evidence placed this individual within a population branch that researchers designated Ancient Beringian.