Kwäday Dän Tsʼìnchi, or Canadian Ice Man, is a naturally mummified body found in Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada, by a group of hunters in 1999.
Kwäday Dän Tsʼìnchi means "Long Ago Person Found" in Southern Tutchone, and is pronounced [kʷʰətaj tən t͡sʼìnt͡ʃʰi] in that language.
DNA testing of more than 240 volunteers from the local Champagne and Aishihik First Nations revealed 17 persons who are related to the ice man through their direct maternal line.
[1] Three sheep hunters, Bill Hanlon, Warren Ward and Mike Roche, discovered a number of artifacts and a human body in a melting glacier while hunting near the Yukon border on July 22, 1999 (60°N 138°W / 60°N 138°W / 60; -138).
The head was missing, as were the right arm and lower right leg, though his hair, attached to some remnants of the scalp, and some small bones from the right hand and foot were recovered.
An examination of the food in Kwäday Dän Tsʼìnchi's digestive tract reveals that he had traveled a distance of around 100 km (62 mi) in the three days prior to his death, from the coastal region up into higher elevations where he was found.
The use of gopher skins for common household items, robes, and blankets had been important in the past, but the discovery of Kwäday Dän Tsʼìnchi helped revive interest among the Champagne and Aishihik people in teaching and passing on the skills involved, from harvesting the animals to the preparation and the sewing of pelts together.
[1][5][11][12] In 2000, mitochondrial DNA tests of 241 area volunteers of Champagne and Aishihik First Nations revealed 17 living persons who are related to Kwäday Dän Tsʼìnchi through their direct maternal line.