Posted on 09/24/2021 4:27:02 AM PDT by BenLurkin
The footprints at White Sands were dated by examining the seeds of an aquatic plant that once thrived along the shores of the dried-up lake, Ruppia cirrhosa, commonly known as ditchgrass. According to research published Thursday in the journal Science and co-authored by Bustos, the ancient ditchgrass seeds were found in layers of hard earth both above and below the many human footprints at the site, and they were radiocarbon-dated to determine their age.
The tracks at one location have been revealed as both the earliest known footprints and the oldest firm evidence of humans anywhere in the Americas, showing that people lived there 21,000 to 23,000 years ago — several thousand years earlier than scientists once believed.
Fossilized human footprints have now been found throughout the east of the national park, where the bed of a “paleo-lake,” which is now dry, supplies the gypsum-rich earth that is eroded by the wind to create the enormous white dunes for which the region is famous.
The term “Last Glacial Maximum” is how scientists refer to the height of the last ice age, about 20,000 to 26,000 years ago.
It has long been debated whether humans arrived in the Americas by a northern route from Siberia before or after the Last Glacial Maximum, when vast sheets of ice would have made migration along the Pacific Coast or through western Canada impossible.
The ancient footprints at White Sands answer that question, suggesting that they may have arrived up to 30,000 years ago, thousands of years before the height of the ice age,
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Many, many moons ago (a little indian lingo there) I had a double college major of Spanish and archeology. Excavating ancient America and Central America was fascinating, but it could not pay a mortgage. Back then the idea that man had only been in the Americas for a short time seemed ludicrous. I did not argue with older professors who would not consider that we really didn’t (don’t) know when and how it all happened. We keep finding more clues and information, and it is all so very cool.
This revelation is no surprise.
Thanks PghBaldy and Larry Lucido. I've added this one to the list, no official ping because of the earlier topic, linked below (just added the Digest list, as I had in the other one, a few days early). The whole idea that the Americas were isolated until 15,000 years ago, then continued in isolation until 1492 is absurd on its face. :^)
Nancy Pelosi took a family vacation to it... 🤓
Not buying it.
I’ve been to White Sands. Footprints there wouldn’t last an hour.
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