Ancient footprints found in Mexico valley

AP ^ | 26 Oct 2006 | IOAN GRILLO

[FLOutdoorsman]

MEXICO CITY - A trail of 13 fossilized footprints running through a valley in a desert in northern Mexico could be among the oldest in the Americas, Mexican archeologists said.

The footprints were made by hunter gatherers who are believed to have lived thousands of years ago in the Coahuila valley of Cuatro Cienegas, 190 miles (306 kms) south of Eagle Pass, Texas, said archaeologist Yuri de la Rosa Gutierrez of Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History.

"We believe (the footprints) are between 10,000 and 15,000 years old," De la Rosa said in a news release Wednesday. "We have evidence of the presence of hunter gatherers in the Coahuila desert more than 10,000 years ago."

De la Rosa said there have only been initial tests to find the age of the prints and more tests will be carried out both in Mexico and at a laboratory in Bristol in Great Britain.

The oldest discovered footprints in the Western hemisphere are in Chile, and are believed to be 13,000 years old. There 6,000-year old footprints in the U.S. state of California, in Brazil and in Nicaragua.

The age of the Mexican footprints is dwarfed by those found in Africa. The oldest known hominid foot marks are in Laetoli, in Tanzania, and are believed to have been made 3.5 million years ago.

The Cuatro Cienegas footprints were discovered in May embedded in a white rock called travertine, it said in the news release.

Each footprint is 10 inches (27 cm) long and under an inch (2 cm) deep. They spread over a distance of 30 feet (10 meters).

It is likely they were imprinted in mud and preserved by some rapid change in the environment, said Arturo Gonzalez, director of the Desert Museum, in the Coahuila state capital of Saltillo.

"There must have been a natural phenomenon to rapidly cover them so they were not rubbed out and were perfectly preserved," Gonzalez said.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

While people should not be insulted in general, they definitely shouldn't be for things which they can't change (at least in a normal manner, there is still surgery for a lot of things). This is why insulting people because of their ancestry (race) is bad, they can't change that. Same with height and build. And to a lesser extent though within these boundaries, weight and ugliness.

[cpdiii]

Correct, what he was thinking was the RA which was a reed boat that Thor Hyerdal made in the Persian Gulf Area and sailed down the Indian Ocean and perhaps across the South Atlantic. I saw it docked in Oman in the Muscat Harbor, I think that was about 1978

[brytlea]

It just seemed to me that if they all came from the north (from europe) across the land bridge at Alaska, we should see older footprints somewhere north of Mexico. I'm just musing. It's not a subject I've spent much time on, especially recently (obviously) altho I find it interesting.
susie

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

The argument is probably made that since footprints (from people supposedly here over ten thousand years ago) are rare as it is, footprints from more northern regions simply disappeared; also there was the Laurentian ice sheet which largely melted (though why people would be trekking over ice?), cutting off much of the land now available in the north. BTW, proponents of a European (ancient) settlement of the New World often agree with multiple waves of immigration, so those in Mexico and Chile could be from another hypothetical colonization: one from Oceania (Pacific Island region).

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

So did he go from Peru to Polynesia or from Polynesia to Peru? Since you mention it being via a current, Peru to Polynesia is not the same as Polynesia to Peru.

[verbal voter]

Heyerdahl wrote 2 books---Kon Tiki and Ra. Organized man came from Egypt/Africa to Latin America and then the pacific islands. He theorized and showed the possibility. So many things might have destroyed (or be hiding)older footprints. Are the 3.5MM year footprints man or a predecessor?

[blam]

Mexico offers up ancient footprints (40,000 year old footprints)

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Salamander.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[John 6.66=Mark of the Beast?]

"the first wet backs how great just what I have been waiting for I wonder if the had to push #1or #2"

mickey blue eyes? hmmm you wouldn't be some drunken bogtrotter donkey from Ireland?

You see the racial slur's can go both ways. We don't need none of that we hear enough from the far left side.

[RightWhale]

The Olmec, who came and went without much clue except that they were here, came straight across from Africa. Others came straight across the Pacific, and still do. The Land Bridge is an old hypothesis that is outliving its utility.

[brytlea]

Interesting. Thanks for the info.
susie

[brytlea]

Oh thanks, now I feel old! ;)
susie

[RightWhale]

Even better, modern humans arose on Catalina Island 200,000 years ago and spread from there to Asia and South America and from Asia to Europe and Africa, then back across to America again. The Westward Migration hypothesis.

[brytlea]

Are you for real?
;)
susie

[RightWhale]

Just reporting. I don't put my own speculations on this BBS. Except for some physics stuff and what Hillary!08 might be doing this weekend.

[brytlea]

LOL
susie