The fragments of textiles that museum officials display -- the mummy itself is kept out of public view because it is so delicate and out of respect for Native American sensibilities -- bear a striking resemblance to the open pouch-like African bags that are popular today.
"This means there was a heritage of textile production which predates what we'd known," Mr. James said. "The implications are remarkable."
The marsh plants and other materials found with the Spirit Cave man also provide an improved snapshot of the environment of the Great Basin around the period when the ice age lakes of the area were drying up and it was rapidly turning into the desert that dominates it today, anthropologists say.
"This was an important period all over the planet," Ms. Dansie said. "This represents a time period when all humans all over the planet were faced with the same kind of challenge," and the mummy shows that in North America "the response to the challenge was as sophisticated as anywhere on the planet."
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