Controversies Concerning Nimuué

Lingering Doubts and Questions Surrounding Nimuué

Dating Fossilized Remains Proves Difficult

One longstanding controversy surrounding Minnesota Woman/Nimuué is that of when she walked the land and touched the waters of what is now known as Otter Tail County. Estimates have ranged all the way from about 8,000 to 17,000 years ago. Efforts in the 1950s to date her bones were, unfortunately, compromised due to the bones having been fossilized by their environment and the way they had been preserved since their discovery. An Accelerated Mass Spectrometry (AMS) measurement conducted in the 1990s yielded an age of 7,840 - a date which has been questioned due to its preciseness. (Plus, the specifics as to how that date was determined have not, to date, been fully explained.)

Who Were Her People and Where Did They Come From?

Another big question revolves around the origin of Nimuué’s people. From what direction did they emigrate to this area so long ago? Across the Bering Straits is one possibility, but some information now suggests that certain groups may have come to this continent by boat from a Pacific origin, with their descendants eventually traveling into this region from the south. The answer is not yet conclusive, if indeed it ever will be.

Then there are other questions, including: Why did she carry a wolf’s tooth? What did she hold in the turtle carapace found with her? Where did the broken clam shell pieces come from?