Radiocarbon dating shows the child lived about 1650 AD, at a time when smallpox was common in Europe.

But when radiocarbon dating in the 1990s determined that they were much older, the finds drew attention from both scientists and the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe.

Charcoal, which is also used in radiocarbon dating, can move quite readily through certain sedimentary environments and can have contaminants.