12,000-Year-Old Human Footprints Found in New Mexico

[Judi Lynn]

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

[Enterstageleft]

1. White Sands is one of the most amazing things we have seen...

We've been coast to coast across the US & Canada in our motorhome.

We were in White Sands in August, & you'd sworn there was a huge snowstorm in just the last few hours.

They plow the roads like it was snow, because the winds blow the gypsum across the roads just like snow.

The amazing thing was the temperatures were in the 80's when we were there, and less than 1 inch under the surface, the gypsum was cool to the touch.

If you haven't seen this, it should be on your bucket list.

P.S. It was just recognized as a National Park in the last 2-3 years.

[Karadeniz]

2. So interesting!

[wnylib]

3. Fascinating. Kinda gives a new, literal meaning

to Longfellow's poetic lines,

"And departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time."