White Sands fossil footprints

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Fossil footprints from White Sands National Park Human fossil tracks at White Sands New Mexico.jpg
Fossil footprints from White Sands National Park

The White Sands fossil footprints are a set of fossilized human footprints discovered in 2009 in the White Sands National Park in New Mexico. In 2021 they were radiocarbon dated, based on seeds found in the sediment layers, to between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago. [1] That date range is currently the subject of scientific debate, but if it is correct, the footprints would be one of, if not the oldest record of humans in the Americas. The earlier theory held that human settlement of the Americas began at the end of the last Ice Age, about 13,000-16,000 years ago. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Description

More fossil footprints from White Sands National Park Multiple tracks and directions suggest that the area was a commonly used route. The tracks were possibly formed by the same (d69086f1-e6b2-428f-9c1b-71a898713dbd).jpg
More fossil footprints from White Sands National Park

The 61 footprints are located at the shore of a dried up ice age era lake, Lake Otero in the Tularosa Basin. [5] The prints were laid on the shores of the now-dry lake at a time when the climate in the region was less arid. Instead of being an arid desert of gypsum dunes, the region had extensive grasslands and abundant vegetation.

The prints were found in seven soil layers and provide evidence of human occupation spanning approximately 2000 years. The prints have "good anatomical definition (i.e. visible heal impressions, medial longitudinal arches and toe pads)". [1] They are flatter-footed than those that are left by people who habitually wear shoes and, in this respect, are similar to fossil footprints found in Namibia. The tracks are those of extinct megafauna, such as Columbian mammoths and ground sloths, as well as those of predators such as the American lion and dire wolves. [1] [6]

Interpreting the prints

Fossil footprint of a giant ground sloth found in White Sands National Park Fossil footprint, Harlan's ground sloth, White Sands National Park, New Mexico, United States.jpg
Fossil footprint of a giant ground sloth found in White Sands National Park

The prints provide several insights into the lives of the peoples who made them. First, one set of prints appears to show human hunters tracking a giant sloth. Variations in the tracks left by the sloth show that it stood on its hind legs and spun around, possibly showing fear, but there is no evidence that the hunt was successful. [7] [6]

Second, another set of prints seems to have been laid by a woman or adolescent male, walking with a very young child for over a mile. It appears that the person sometimes carried the child and then set it down, slipping as he or she carried the additional weight. The pair made a round trip journey and, between the outbound and return legs of the trip, a mammoth crossed their track without changing course or showing signs of concern about their presence. [7] [6]

Third, the vast majority of the prints were made by teenagers and children, with few large adult footprints being found in any of the excavated surfaces. One explanation of this finding is that the teenagers and children were assigned tasks such as 'fetching and carrying' near the lake bed, whereas the adults engaged in more skilled activities. [1] [6]

It is thought that, counting both human and animal tracks, there are hundreds of thousands of fossilised footprints in the White Sands area. [7] A report by the United States National Park Service states that the "fossilized footprints of White Sands are probably the most important resources in the Americas to understand the interaction of humans and extinct animals from the ice age." [6]

Controversy about dating

In 2022, skeptics noted that age estimates relied on carbon dating Ruppia cirrhosa seeds, whose parent plants can intake older carbon from groundwater, thereby potentially resulting in dates thousands of years too old. [4] [8] A study accounting for this effect suggesting that the maximum age of the footprints is likely only 15,500–13,500 is calibrated years Before Present, which is similar to the dates found for many other archaeological sites across the Americas. [9]

A 2023 study that included radiocarbon dating of pollen and optically stimulated luminescence dating (OSL dating) of quartz grains within the footprint layers corroborated the original dates obtained from the seeds. [8] [10] However, these dates have also been considered uncertain by other authors, who suggest that they represent maximum ages, rather than true age estimates, due to the OSL dating being only taken from a layer below the footprints, and the potential for old pollen to be eroded and redeposited into younger layers. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ground sloth</span> Diverse group of extinct sloth species

Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. They varied widely in size with the largest, belonging to genera Lestodon, Eremotherium and Megatherium, being around the size of elephants. Ground sloths represent a paraphyletic group, as living tree sloths are thought to have evolved from ground sloth ancestors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Sands National Park</span> National park in New Mexico, United States

White Sands National Park is a national park of the United States located in New Mexico and completely surrounded by the White Sands Missile Range. The park covers 145,762 acres in the Tularosa Basin, including the southern 41% of a 275 sq mi (710 km2) field of white sand dunes composed of gypsum crystals. This gypsum dunefield is the largest of its kind on Earth, with a depth of about 30 feet (9.1 m), dunes as tall as 60 feet (18 m), and about 4.5 billion short tons of gypsum sand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laetoli</span> National Historic Site of Tanzania

Laetoli is a pre-historic site located in Enduleni ward of Ngorongoro District in Arusha Region, Tanzania. The site is dated to the Plio-Pleistocene and famous for its Hominina footprints, preserved in volcanic ash. The site of the Laetoli footprints is located 45 km south of Olduvai gorge. The location and tracks were discovered by archaeologist Mary Leakey and her team in 1976, and were excavated by 1978. Based on analysis of the footfall impressions "The Laetoli Footprints" provided convincing evidence for the theory of bipedalism in Pliocene Hominina and received significant recognition by scientists and the public. Since 1998, paleontological expeditions have continued under the leadership of Amandus Kwekason of the National Museum of Tanzania and Terry Harrison of New York University, leading to the recovery of more than a dozen new Hominina finds, as well as a comprehensive reconstruction of the paleoecology. The site is a registered National Historic Sites of Tanzania.

Archaeological science consists of the application of scientific techniques to the analysis of archaeological materials and sites. It is related to methodologies of archaeology. Martinón-Torres and Killick distinguish ‘scientific archaeology’ from ‘archaeological science’. Martinón-Torres and Killick claim that ‘archaeological science’ has promoted the development of high-level theory in archaeology. However, Smith rejects both concepts of archaeological science because neither emphasize falsification or a search for causality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monte Verde</span> Archaeological site in Llanquihue Province, Chile

Monte Verde is a Paleolithic archaeological site in the Llanquihue Province in southern Chile, located near Puerto Montt, Los Lagos Region. The site is primarily known for Monte Verde II, dating to approximately 14,550–14,500 calibrated years Before Present (BP). The Monte Verde II site has been considered key evidence showing that the human settlement of the Americas pre-dates the Clovis culture by at least 1,000 years. This contradicts the previously accepted "Clovis first" model which holds that settlement of the Americas began after 13,500 cal BP. The Monte Verde findings were initially dismissed by most of the scientific community, but the evidence then became more accepted in archaeological circles. The site also contains an older, much more controversial layer suggested to date to 18,500 cal BP, that lacks the general acceptance of Monte Verde II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tularosa Basin</span>

The Tularosa Basin is a graben basin in the Basin and Range Province and within the Chihuahuan Desert, east of the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico and West Texas, in the Southwestern United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fossil track</span> Fossilized footprint (ichnite)

A fossil track or ichnite is a fossilized footprint. This is a type of trace fossil. A fossil trackway is a sequence of fossil tracks left by a single organism. Over the years, many ichnites have been found, around the world, giving important clues about the behaviour of the animals that made them. For instance, multiple ichnites of a single species, close together, suggest 'herd' or 'pack' behaviour of that species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Footprint</span> Impressions or images left behind by a person walking or running

Footprints are the impressions or images left behind by a person walking or running. Hoofprints and pawprints are those left by animals with hooves or paws rather than feet, while "shoeprints" is the specific term for prints made by shoes. They may either be indentations in the ground or something placed onto the surface that was stuck to the bottom of the foot. A "trackway" is a set of footprints in soft earth left by a life-form; animal tracks are the footprints, hoofprints, or pawprints of an animal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ancient footprints of Acahualinca</span> Hominin fossils

The Ancient footprints of Acahualinca exist in Managua, Nicaragua near the southern shore of Lake Managua. The region was once called "El Cauce". The tracks are fossil Late Holocene human footprints left behind in volcanic ash and mud, which solidified about 2,120±120 years ago, shortly after the group of up to 15 people passed by.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eve's footprint</span> Hominin fossil

Eve's footprint is the popular name for a set of fossilised footprints discovered on the shore of Langebaan Lagoon, South Africa in 1995. They are thought to be those of a female human and have been dated to approximately 117,000 years ago. This makes them the oldest known footprints of an anatomically modern human. The estimated age of Eve's footprint means that the individual who left the tracks in the soil, thought to be female, would have lived within the current wide range of estimates for the date of Mitochondrial Eve.

The Xalnene Tuff footprints are a geological academic controversy, concerning a 2005 discovery of 269 markings in a geological layer in the Valsequillo Basin, south of the city of Puebla, Mexico, which were originally interpreted to be human and animal footprints. The layer was variously dated to 40,000 years Before Present (BP) or 1.3 million years BP, both dates significantly before the currently accepted date for the settlement of the Americas. A 2010 study argues that the marks were made by recent mining activities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snowmastodon site</span>

The Snowmastodon site, also known as the Ziegler Reservoir fossil site, is the location of an important Ice Age fossil excavation near Snowmass Village, Colorado. Fossils were first discovered on October 14, 2010, during the construction of a 5 hectares reservoir to supply Snowmass Village with water. Over the subsequent weeks, after an agreement had been reached to allow paleontological excavation, crews from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and the U.S. Geological Survey worked along with the construction crews as more fossil material was uncovered. The site closed for five months over the winter, reopening May 15, 2011. Between May 15 and July 4, 2011, crews from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science conducted a large scale fossil excavation alongside construction crews building a dam for the reservoir. In total over 36,000 vertebrate fossils, more than 100 species of fossil invertebrates and over 100 species of fossil plants were found in sediments deposited by an alpine lake during the last interglacial period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kow Swamp Archaeological Site</span>

The Kow Swamp archaeological site comprises a series of late Pleistocene burials within the lunette of the eastern rim of a former lake known as Kow Swamp. The site is 10 kilometres (6 mi) south-east of Cohuna in the central Murray River valley, in northern Victoria, at 35.953553°S 144.318123°E. The site is significant for archaeological excavations by Alan Thorne between 1968 and 1972 which recovered the partial skeletal remains of more than 22 individuals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valerius Geist</span> Canadian biologist (1938–2021)

Valerius Geist was a German-Canadian biologist and a professor emeritus in the Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Calgary. He was a specialist on the biology, behavior, and social dynamics of North American large mammals, and well respected on his views of Neanderthal people and behavior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Happisburgh footprints</span> Fossilized hominid footprints in Norfolk, England

The Happisburgh footprints were a set of fossilized hominid footprints that date to the end of the Early Pleistocene, around 950–850,000 years ago. They were discovered in May 2013 in a newly uncovered sediment layer of the Cromer Forest Bed on a beach at Happisburgh in Norfolk, England, and carefully photographed in 3D before being destroyed by the tide shortly afterwards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paleoshoreline</span> Shoreline which existed in the geologic past

A paleoshoreline is a shoreline that existed in the geologic past. Paleoshorelines are driven by changes in sea level over geological time. "Sea level" refers to the average level of a marine water body over a relatively long period of time (years). Fluctuations in sea level is largely due to the melting and freezing of ice sheets. The position of paleoshorelines differed greatly from modern shorelines and can be used to reconstruct past sea levels, environments and ecological communities. Paleoshorelines exist due to unique preservation processes and give insight into the formation and understanding of prominent marine structures. Lakes may also have paleoshorelines. The reconstruction of paleoshorelines also aid in the understanding of species migration, modern ecological assemblages, and paleoclimates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hartley Mammoth Site</span> Pre-Clovis archeological site in New Mexico

The Hartley Mammoth Site is a pre-Clovis archaeological and paleontological site in New Mexico. Preserving the butchered remains of two Columbian mammoths, small mammals and fish, the site is notable due to its age, which is significantly older than the currently accepted dates for the settlement of the Americas.

Isotope analysis has many applications in archaeology, from dating sites and artefacts, determination of past diets and migration patterns and for environmental reconstruction.

The theory known as "Clovis First" was the predominant hypothesis among archaeologists in the second half of the 20th century to explain the peopling of the Americas. According to Clovis First, the people associated with the Clovis culture were the first inhabitants of the Americas. This hypothesis came to be challenged by ongoing studies that suggest pre-Clovis human occupation of the Americas. In 2011, following the excavation of an occupation site at Buttermilk Creek, Texas, a group of scientists identified the existence "of an occupation older than Clovis." At the site in Buttermilk, archaeologists discovered evidence of hunter-gatherer group living and the making of projectile spear points, blades, choppers, and other stone tools. The tools found were made from a local chert and could be dated back to as early as 15,000 years ago.

Nauwalabila I, is a sandstone rock shelter located in Deaf Adder Gorge in the Northern Territory of Australia. Along with Madjedbebe, this site is one of the oldest in terms of human settlement in Australia, with its estimated age being greater than 50,000 years. Nowadays, this site can be found in Kakadu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site that is partially owned by the collective Aboriginal population of Arnhem Land.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Bennett, Matthew R.; Bustos, David; Pigati, Jeffrey S.; Springer, Kathleen B.; Urban, Thomas M.; Holliday, Vance T.; Reynolds, Sally C.; Budka, Marcin; Honke, Jeffrey S.; Hudson, Adam M.; Fenerty, Brendan; Connelly, Clare; Martinez, Patrick J.; Santucci, Vincent L.; Odess, Daniel (2021-09-24). "Evidence of humans in North America during the Last Glacial Maximum". Science. 373 (6562): 1528–1531. Bibcode:2021Sci...373.1528B. doi:10.1126/science.abg7586. ISSN   0036-8075. PMID   34554787. S2CID   237616125.
  2. ↑ Zimmer, Carl (September 23, 2021). "Ancient Footprints Push Back Date of Human Arrival in the Americas". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved April 8, 2022.
  3. ↑ Gershon, Livia (September 24, 2021). "Prehistoric Footprints Push Back Timeline of Humans' Arrival in North America". Smithsonian Magazine . Retrieved April 8, 2022.
  4. 1 2 Madsen, David B.; Davis, Loren G.; Rhode, David; Oviatt, Charles G. (2022-10-14). "Comment on "Evidence of humans in North America during the Last Glacial Maximum"". Science . 375 (6577). American Association for the Advancement of Science: eabm4678. doi:10.1126/science.abm4678. PMID   35025634 . Retrieved 2023-08-23.
  5. ↑ "The discovery of ancient human footprints in White Sands National Park and their link to abrupt climate change". United States Geological Survey. Earth Science Matters Newsletter. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Fossilized Footprints - White Sands National Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  7. 1 2 3 "Features - Ghost Tracks of White Sands - Archaeology Magazine - November/December 2021". Archaeology Magazine. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  8. 1 2 Johnson, Carolyn (October 5, 2023). "Ancient footprints upend timeline of humans' arrival in North America". The Washington Post . Retrieved October 6, 2023.
  9. ↑ Rachal, David M.; Dello-Russo, Robert; Cuba, Matthew (January 2024). "The Pleistocene footprints are younger than we thought: correcting the radiocarbon dates of Ruppia seeds, Tularosa Basin, New Mexico". Quaternary Research. 117: 67–78. Bibcode:2024QuRes.117...67R. doi:10.1017/qua.2023.74. ISSN   0033-5894. S2CID   266946359.
  10. ↑ Pigati, Jeffrey S.; Springer, Kathleen B.; Honke, Jeffrey S.; Wahl, David; Champagne, Marie R.; Zimmerman, Susan R. H.; Gray, Harrison J.; Santucci, Vincent L.; Odess, Daniel; Bustos, David; Bennett, Matthew R. (2023). "Independent age estimates resolve the controversy of ancient human footprints at White Sands". Science. 382 (6666): 73–75. Bibcode:2023Sci...382...73P. doi:10.1126/science.adh5007. PMID   37797035. S2CID   263672291.
  11. ↑ Steffen, Martina L. (2024-02-21). "New age constraints for human entry into the Americas on the north Pacific coast". Scientific Reports. 14 (1): 4291. doi:10.1038/s41598-024-54592-x. ISSN   2045-2322. PMC   10881565 . PMID   38383701.


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