CREDIT: Darren Stone, Times Colonist DNA research has linked sisters Pearl Callaghan, left, and Sheila Clark to the centuries-old human remains that melted out of a glacier in northwestern British Columbia in 1999.

Direct descendants of the ancient "iceman" found in a B.C. glacier in 1999 are living in northern B.C., Yukon and Alaska today, DNA testing has found.

Eight days ago, 17 aboriginal people were told that tests have proven they are descendants of Kwaday Dan Ts'inchi, the name given to the remains, which translates as Long Ago Person Found. The startling results were announced at a scientific symposium in Victoria yesterday.

The body of the young aboriginal man, believed to be in his 20s, was found by three hunters at the foot of a melting glacier in Tatshenshini-Alsek Park, part of the traditional territory of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations in northern B.C.

By coincidence, the head and other artifacts were discovered four years later, when two of the hunters returned and found the ice had receded another 20 metres.

The latest radiocarbon dating shows the man died between 1670 and 1850, preceding or just overlapping the earliest European contact on the West Coast.

Voluntary DNA testing of First Nations people is part of the international research carried out on the almost perfectly preserved body. Sisters Sheila Clark and Pearl Callaghan of Whitehorse, both of whom were tested, clutched each others' hands and blinked back tears yesterday as they talked about their ancestor.

"It was extremely moving. I couldn't believe it," Clark said.

The family is now pressing their 84-year-old mother for information as they try to establish the family tree, Callaghan said.

Clark and Callaghan are members of the Teslin-Tlingit First Nation, and research shows the iceman moved between the coast and the northern Interior, which would have had him travelling through Teslin-Tlingit traditional territory.

For Champagne and Aishihik First Nations Chief Diane Strand, it is a remarkable reminder of the close, historical partnership between coastal and Interior bands.

A total of 240 people volunteered for the DNA study, so it is amazing that 17 were found to be directly related, she said.

"What is the most exciting news is that half of them are from the Yukon and half from the coast."

Out of those, 15 people self-identify as being from the Wolf clan, meaning the young man was probably Wolf as well, she said. Yukon First Nations divided themselves into the Wolf and Crow clans, and tradition held that Crow must always marry Wolf, to ensure ties remained between peoples.

"The majority of people who have worked on this project were Crow people, and I truly believe things happened in the way they were meant to happen," she said.

Among the international researchers and scientists at the conference were the three hunters who discovered the body while hunting Dall sheep.

Bill Hanlon of Sparwood and Michael Roch and Warren Ward of Nelson said the find has led to a historical learning journey of their own. In an emotional meeting, the hunters were thanked by Clark and Callaghan on behalf of their long-dead relative.

"There were so many coincidences that put us in that spot at that time," Roch said. "We were meant to be at that spot and then, four years later, we were meant to be there again."

A public lecture on Kwaday Dan Ts'inchi will be held at the University of Victoria's Farquhar Auditorium tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.

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