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Etched in sands of time: ‘We knew they were old’ (Human footprints - oldest known humans in America 23,000 years ago)
The Albuquerque Journal ^ | September 23, 2021 | Ryan Boetel

Posted on 09/24/2021 11:13:26 AM PDT by CedarDave

About 23,000 years ago, a group of children and teenagers left footprints along Lake Otero in what is now southern New Mexico – perhaps they were fetching water for adults hunting a mammoth or the massive ground sloth that roamed the area in those days.

This week, a team of researchers from White Sands National Park, the National Parks Service and others published an article in the journal Science, which concludes that those children’s footprints were the oldest known human tracks ever found in North America. Imprints of the tiny toes were found along outcrops of the since-dried-up lake, which is in White Sands, and they indicate the earliest humans arrived on the continent thousands of years before previously thought, according to a park service news release.

The question of when humans first set foot on North America has long flummoxed scientists. The article’s authors said it remains uncertain exactly when people arrived in the Western Hemisphere and when their continuous occupation started.

White Sands is home to the world’s largest-known collection of fossilized footprints from the ice age. It’s been recognized as a “megatracksite” since 2014, according to an NPS news release.

In addition to humans, mammoth, saber-toothed cats, dire wolves and the tracks of other ice age animals have been discovered there.

The findings also further confirm that humans lived in North America during the Last Glacial Maximum – the most recent ice age – and that they lived alongside those massive beasts.

David Bustos, resource program director at White Sands and one of the study’s authors, said the team used carbon dating on multiple sets of footprints to determine they were 23,000 years old. He said previous scientific estimates had put humans in North America about 13,000 years ago.

(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science
KEYWORDS: clovis; ditchgrass; fauxiantroll; fauxiantrolls; footprints; fossils; glaciation; godsgravesglyphs; humans; iceage; jeffpigati; kathleenspringer; lakeotero; mexico; migration; newmexico; origins; paleontology; preclovis; ruppiacirrhosa; solutrean; solutreans; trackway; trackways; tularosabasin; whitesands

An artist’s depiction of children along the banks of Lake Otero, which used to be located in southern New Mexico.
Mammoths and other large ice age animals roamed the area in those days, more than 21,000 years ago. (Courtesy of Karen Carr)
1 posted on 09/24/2021 11:13:26 AM PDT by CedarDave
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To: CedarDave

“We knew they were old”. Thanks for that in depth report. Must have her PHD.


2 posted on 09/24/2021 11:19:03 AM PDT by albie
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To: albie

3 words,.....Glenn Rose Texas.


3 posted on 09/24/2021 11:22:01 AM PDT by chuckles
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To: CedarDave
Lake Otero, which used to be located in southern New Mexico

Did the lake get moved? Where is it now. And who moved it?
4 posted on 09/24/2021 11:22:23 AM PDT by adorno
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To: CedarDave

This border crossing thing has been going on too long!! LOL


5 posted on 09/24/2021 11:22:59 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1st Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: albie

Could be childhood prints of Keith Richards!


6 posted on 09/24/2021 11:31:25 AM PDT by JaguarXKE (Liberalism is a cancer on our nation.)
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This is topic #3, see the keyword for the others.

7 posted on 09/24/2021 11:35:56 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: JaguarXKE

“Could be childhood prints of Keith Richards!”

...seriously funny!


8 posted on 09/24/2021 11:46:20 AM PDT by albie
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To: adorno

Lakes come and go. It’s not there anymore.


9 posted on 09/24/2021 11:48:50 AM PDT by Tea Party Terrorist (Eat the Rich)
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To: CedarDave

And to think when I was in college 3 decades ago my anthropology professor insisted there was absolutely no possibilty that humans could have been in the Americas prior to the end of the ice age (10,000 years ago).

So much for the opinions of career academics and eggheads.


10 posted on 09/24/2021 11:54:08 AM PDT by Qui is (Biden spews and Harris swallows)
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To: Qui is

The article says “the team used carbon dating on multiple sets of footprints to determine they were 23,000 years old.” We’re assuming the carbon dating methods are accurate. In the past (and I don’t know how long in the past) there was some controversy on accuracy.


11 posted on 09/24/2021 12:03:22 PM PDT by CedarDave (Wearing a mask to keep you safe from the virus is like putting up chicken wire to keep out mosquitos)
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To: chuckles

Yes, love that spot.


12 posted on 09/24/2021 12:17:54 PM PDT by SaxxonWoods ( comment might be sarcasm, or not. It depends. Often I'm not sure either.)
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To: CedarDave

They know they were children and teenagers due to the skateboard tracks.


13 posted on 09/24/2021 12:22:11 PM PDT by SaxxonWoods ( comment might be sarcasm, or not. It depends. Often I'm not sure either.)
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To: Tea Party Terrorist
Lakes come and go. It’s not there anymore.

I know that, but, the way the article read, it sounded like it had been moved.
14 posted on 09/24/2021 12:51:47 PM PDT by adorno
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To: CedarDave

bookmark


15 posted on 09/24/2021 12:59:13 PM PDT by GOP Poet (Super cool you can change your tag line EVERYTIME you post!! :D. (Small things make me happy))
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To: CedarDave

trivia - and, have they checked ‘north and south’ for more footprints maybe ??:

“.,,,Radiocarbon dates indicate that these basal nearshore lake deposits accumulated from about 45,000–28,000 14C yrs b.p. A widespread erosional episode removed at least 2 m of lake-margin deposits between 28,000 and 25,000 14C yrs b.p. Lakebeds overlying the erosional unconformity contain a relative abundance of siliciclastic sediment and aquatic fossil organisms suggesting repeated episodes of increased precipitation, surface runoff, and freshening of the lake system. These inferred episodes of increased precipitation and enhanced fluvial activity in the basin began ca. 24,500 14C yrs b.p. and lasted for at least 9 millennia. Highstands of the lake during this period appear to have reached an elevation of ~1,204 m. Details of the history of Lake Otero after 15,500 14C yrs b.p. remain sketchy due to wind deflation of the basin floor and wholesale removal of lacustrine deposits during the Holocene. The evidence from Lake Otero for the onset of maximum pluvial conditions during the late Pleistocene appears to be in good temporal agreement with lacustrine reconstructions from neighboring lake basins to the north and south....

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Evidence-for-late-Pleistocene-hydrologic-and-change-Allen-Love/6246880dbe620579b047c3fd91f0558965cf3a3f


16 posted on 09/24/2021 8:46:38 PM PDT by blueplum ("...this moment is your moment: it belongs to you... " President Donald J. Trump, Jan 20, 2017) )
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