New research shows that fossil footprints discovered at the edge of an ancient lakebed in New Mexico date to between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago.
New research confirms that fossil human footprints in New Mexico are likely the oldest direct evidence of human presence in the Americas, a finding that upends what many archaeologists thought they knew about when our ancestors arrived in the New World. The footprints were discovered at the edge of an ancient lakebed in White Sands National Park and date to between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago, according to research published Thursday in the journal Science.
Thomas Stafford, an independent archaeological geologist in Albuquerque who was not involved in the study, said he “was a bit skeptical before” but now is convinced. “If three totally different methods converge around a single age range, that’s really significant,” he said. The new study isolated about 75,000 grains of pure pollen from the same sedimentary layer that contained the footprints. “Dating pollen is arduous and nail-biting,” said Kathleen Springer, a research geologist at the U.S.
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Further evidence points to footprints in New Mexico being the oldest sign of humans in AmericasNew research shows that fossil footprints discovered at the edge of an ancient lakebed in New Mexico's White Sands National Park date back to between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago
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Further evidence points to footprints in New Mexico being the oldest sign of humans in AmericasNew research shows that fossil footprints discovered at the edge of an ancient lakebed in New Mexico's White Sands National Park date back to between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago.
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Further evidence points to footprints in New Mexico being the oldest sign of humans in AmericasNew research shows that fossil footprints discovered at the edge of an ancient lakebed in New Mexico's White Sands National Park date back to between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago. Previously, archaeologists thought human ancestors arrived about 15,000 years ago. The research was published Thursday in the journal Science. Scientists analyzed conifer pollen and quartz grains found at the site to reach date estimates. Earlier research that analyzed seeds of aquatic plants found at the site also produced similar date estimates. Ancient humans at White Sands lived alongside giant ground sloths, bison and other megafauna.
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