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Fossilized human footprints found in White Sands National Park in New Mexico have shocked anthropologists, dating to between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago – several thousand years before humans first lived times in North America.
The migration of humans from Siberia to Alaska at a time when sea levels were very low, around 13,500 years ago, across the Bering Sea land bridge, was believed to be the first humans that could reach North America. But these footprints predate the end of the last ice age during what is known as the last ice maximum.
CNN:
The timing and location of the footprints in southwestern North America suggests humans must have been on the continent much earlier than previously thought, [said Matthew Bennett, a professor and specialist in ancient footprints at Bournemouth University.] The people who made the footprints – mostly teenagers and children – lived in New Mexico during the height of the last ice age.
Between 19,000 and 26,000 years ago, a period known as the Last Ice Maximum, two massive ice caps covered the northern third of the continent and reached south to New York, Cincinnati and Des Moines, Iowa. Ice and cold temperatures would have made travel between Asia and Alaska impossible during this time, meaning the people who left the footprints likely arrived much sooner.
“This is the first unequivocal site and a good data point that places the people of the American Southwest around the last glacial maximum,” Bennett said.
Anthropologists have found 60 fossilized human footprints in New Mexico that date back 23,000 years.
The discovery reveals that humans occupied North America thousands of years earlier than we thought – and thrived on the continent during the last Ice Age. pic.twitter.com/u1qfJ9tQNd– ~ 𝓣𝓮𝓪𝓱 ~ (@TeahCartel) September 23, 2021
Humans are unlikely to have been able to cross the ice caps to reach New Mexico, so they had to be here before the ice made travel impossible. This would put the arrival of humans in North America twice as early as expected.
There are several other sites that have been found over the years leading up to the 16,000-year magic marker, but these were previously rejected due to lack of conclusive evidence and a decided bias against altering the date of consensus.
From now on, these other sites will have to be re-examined in light of this new discovery.
David Rachal, a geoarchaeological consultant who has worked with human and animal tracks in the Tularosa Basin for eight years, said the fingerprint dates provided by Bennett and his team appeared “extremely strong,” with seeds providing evidence. Very reliable and precise ages thanks to radiocarbon dating. .
“In addition, these dates come from seed layers above and below the track surface, which frames the track formation event. You couldn’t ask for a better setup, ”said Rachal, who was not on the study.
The only problem with the find is the lack of other artifacts – stone tools or shards – that would indicate the presence of humans. But artifacts and bones are extremely rare, and it’s no surprise that there aren’t any.
There is no scientific subject more controversial than human origins and human migrations. Scientists stake their reputation and their careers on one theory or another. But this discovery will undoubtedly change one’s mind about human origins in North America and open up avenues of research that did not exist before.
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