Posted on 12/13/2013 8:22:19 PM PST by SunkenCiv
A hunter-gatherer who trekked through a desert oasis a hundred centuries ago left the continent’s most lasting impression: the oldest known human footprints in North America.
There are only two of them — one left and one right — but the ancient traveler’s path through mineral-rich sediment in the Chihuahuan Desert allowed them to become enshrined in stone, and now dated, some 10,500 years later...
The tracks were first discovered during highway construction in northeastern Mexico, about 300 kilometers from the Texas border, in 1961. They were excavated and taken to a local museum for study, but their precise location was lost to history.
A search for the site in 2006 came up empty, but it did turn up an additional 11 tracks in the general area where the original prints were believed to have been found — a marshy, spring-fed desert refuge known as Cuatro Ciénegas.
“Both sets of prints are ones that have been identified before and are the only reported footprints in the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin, but neither have previously been dated,” Felstead said in an interview.
Felstead and his team were able to date the tracks because they were preserved in travertine, a sedimentary rock that contains minute traces of uranium from the waters in which it formed.
Since uranium decays into the element thorium at predictable rates, the scientists were able to measure the ratio of those materials to determine the specimens’ ages.
Their results showed that the pair of tracks discovered in 1961, now housed at Saltillo’s Museo del Desierto, were about 10,550 years old.
The 11 other prints, which remain where they were found in a Cuatro Ciénegas quarry, dated back about 7,250 years,
(Excerpt) Read more at westerndigs.org ...
Great catch after 10,550 years.
Now, who was the first to scream out, "Can't you see I just mopped?"
About 18,000 years ago, there would have been an ice "coastline" from France to New York. I've read suggestions that early settlers could have made their way along that.
I was curious about the arches, as well, but he was walking in very soft soil, so perhaps the foot sank into the surface.
“Wil! Mah!”
“Were they headed north?”
Yes, for the section 8 cave housing and Mammoth stamps.
I have no idea but land masses and geography might have been different than now.
Paleosurfer?
“Nothing vanishes without a trace!” — Cigarette-Smoking Man
That’s an amazing group of results. :’)
actually it usually comes from being barefoot from day one. At most they may have had a hide or leather cover but they had no hard bottomed shoes… tends to make whatever arch you might have had collapse.
myth?
I've been going barefoot all my life - only get shoes on me when necc. for town, etc -
I'm a great grandmother - my arches ae still so high I can't wear tie shoes or shoes without some elastic side inserts -
I'm not alone in surmising that going barefoot can actually strengthen the foot, while being mostly encased in the restraint of man-made shoes actually weakens the foot.
In addition, shoes, especially those made today, interfere with the foots flexibility when walking.
My feeling is that shoes are for protecting the foot in 'civilizations' paved, cemented, 'debreed', FILTHY surfaces - and when the weather is too cold.
Also, today's shoes are largely soled with materials than not only restrict flexibility but that do not allow for the conduction of electrical charge emanating from the earth.
We are a 'body electric' and need 'recharging' for energy and health. This is once again being recognized. Take your shoes off and wiggle your toes in the dew covered grass ;o)
or wear leather soled shoes or mocs.
not really…. you have worn shoes more than you realize. modern shoes tend to help keep the arch in tact. I like you go shoeless as often as I can but it is never all the time
Okay, hadn’t thought of that angle.
I’ve discovered that walking barefoot allows me to ease the strain on a knee that needs a new cartilage. I’ve been able to postpone knee-replacement surgery for nearly seven years. A “Rooster Comb” treatment has left me unimpressed six weeks later. :-/
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