If that age is accurate, the skeleton, Dubbed Eva de Naharon, or Eve of Naharon, —along with three others found in underwater caves along the Caribbean coast of the Yucatán Peninsula —would be the oldest human skeleton ever found in the Americas The three other skeletons excavated in the caves have been given a date range of 11,000 to 14,000 years ago, based on radiocarbon dating. The finds could provide new clues to how the Americas were first populated.

Clues from the skeletons' skulls hint that the people may not be of northern Asian descent, which would contradict the dominant theory of New World settlement. That theory holds that ancient humans first came to North America from northern Asia via a now submerged land bridge across the Bering Sea

"The shape of the skulls has led us to believe that Eva and the others have more of an affinity with people from South Asia than North Asia," González explained.

The remains have been excavated over the past four years near the town of Tulum, about 80 miles southwest of Cancún, by a team of scientists led by Arturo González, director of the Desert Museum in Saltillo, Mexico

"We don't now how these people whose remains were found in the caves arrived and whether they came from the Atlantic, the jungle, or inside the continent," González said.