On finding the fossil remains of chum salmon fish in an ancient hearth in Alaska, researchers said that ancient Alaskans used to eat Salmon fish as food source. Earlier it was believed that salmon fishing dates back to some thousands of years back, but the latest study has proved that the practice has been continuing since 11,500 years ago.

The study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows strong relation of salmon fish with ancient Alaskans. Carrin Halffman, an anthropologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, along with his team conducted DNA analysis of salmon bones.

Ben Potter, from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, said that by combining genetic and isotopic analyses they confirmed that that the fossil bones belong to sea-run chum salmon and not landlocked fish. “We have cases where salmon become landlocked and have very different isotopic signatures than marine salmon”. The latest study concludes that fishing played very important role in the first colonization of North America by early peoples from Eurasia.

Researchers said that the study also states the reason that how earliest humans used to survive in the frigid temperatures of North. They said that high-levels of omega-3 fatty acids present in the sea-chum salmon fish played fundamental role in surviving cold temperatures in North America.