Stomach contents were preserved — the partly digested remains of food he had eaten in the days before his death, which would prove to be one of the most informative aspects of the entire investigation.

Salmon.

The stomach contents included salmon remains.

The presence of salmon in the stomach of a man found in high alpine terrain, far from any river, was immediately striking.

Salmon are anadromous fish — they live in the ocean and return to rivers to spawn.

They are not found in the high mountain terrain where Kwäday Dän Ts’ìnchi was discovered.

For him to have salmon in his stomach, he must have eaten it before ascending to the alpine environment — either at a lower elevation along a river or, more intriguingly, at the coast, if he had recently come from coastal country.

This single observation — the presence of salmon — was the first physical evidence of a life that crossed the boundary between coastal and interior worlds.