Ancient Human Footprints at White Sands National Park Confirmed to be 21,000 to 23,000 Years Old
In a groundbreaking discovery, fossilized human footprints found at White Sands National Park in New Mexico have been confirmed to be between 21,000 and 23,000 years old. The footprints provide crucial evidence of the presence of ancient humans during the Last Glacial Maximum.
Recent research dating back to 2021 revealed the age of the footprints to be around 23,000 years, suggesting that humans coexisted with North American megafauna for thousands of years before their extinction. The new findings, published in the esteemed journal Science, now confirm the previous research using two independent approaches.
For decades, it was widely believed that humans arrived in the Americas around 13,000 years ago. However, remarkable discoveries at Folsom and Clovis in New Mexico changed this narrative, extending the timeline of human arrival in the region even further back.
Controversy has surrounded the dating of the White Sands footprints since their initial discovery in 2021. Researchers faced skepticism from some members of the archaeological community. However, their targeted methodology ultimately proved successful in confirming the footprints’ age.
The original dating of the footprints relied on radiocarbon dating, which drew criticism for potentially producing misleading results. In the recent study, researchers obtained radiocarbon dates from pollen associated with conifer trees, effectively corroborating the earlier findings. To further solidify their conclusions, they also employed optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating.
This groundbreaking research not only provides additional evidence of ancient humans living in North America during the Pleistocene period but also offers a broader understanding of the environment in which these ancient humans thrived.
The findings were detailed in a paper titled “Independent age estimates resolve the controversy of ancient human footprints at White Sands,” published in Science on October 5, 2023. This discovery marks a significant contribution to the field of archaeology, shedding light on the ancient history of North America and challenging previous assumptions about human migration.
