12,000-Year-Old Human Footprints Found in New Mexico [View all]

Oct 15, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has discovered a long prehistoric human trackway at White Sands National Park in New Mexico, the United States.



The 12,000-year-old human footprints found at White Sands National Park in New Mexico. Image credit: Cornell University.

The human tracks at White Sands National Park record more than 1.5 km (0.93 miles) of an out- and-return journey.

They show the footprints of a woman or an adolescent male that are joined, at point, by the footprints of a toddler.

“An adolescent or small adult female made two trips separated by at least several hours, carrying a young child in at least one direction,” said lead author Dr. Sally Reynold of Bournemouth University and colleagues.

The team found the tracks in a dried-up lakebed, which contains a range of other footprints dating from 11,550 to 13,000 years ago.

The lakebed’s formerly muddy surface preserved footprints for thousands of years as it dried up.

More:
http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/white-sands-human-footprints-08953.html