New tests confirm ancient human footprints in New Mexico are thousands of years older than previously thought

Human footprints found in New Mexico may be even older than scientists initially thought, dating back more than 20,000 years.

In 2021, American and British archaeologists estimate that the prints found in White Sands National Park in southern New Mexico were approximately 21,000 to 23,000 years old. This suggests some of the earliest evidence of human activity in the Americas, about 10,000 years earlier than previously thought.

However, many scientists were skeptical. But a follow-up study published Thursday in the journal Science confirmed these findings based on radiocarbon dating, examining decays dating back up to 60,000 years.

Dr. Jeff Pigati, principal investigator of the 2021 study and a geologist at the US Geological Survey (USGS) in Denver, said: ‘Every dating technique has strengths and weaknesses, but if three different techniques all come together in the same age range, then the resulting ages are exceptionally robust.’

Study co-author Dr Kathleen Springer of the USGS added: ‘Our original results were controversial, and we knew all along that we needed to independently evaluate seed ages to develop community confidence in them. This article is that affirmative exercise.”

Homo sapiens emerged in Africa more than 300,000 years ago and later migrated around the world. Scientists believe our species entered North America from Asia by crossing a land bridge that once connected Siberia to Alaska.

The prints – which are flat, a possible sign that the people were barefoot – reveal more than just a date, the researchers said. They offer a glimpse into what life was like during the Upper Paleolithic, which began about 40,000 years ago.

Previous archaeological evidence suggested that human habitation of North America began about 16,000 years ago, according to co-author Dr. Matthew Bennett, professor of environmental and geographical sciences at Bournemouth University in England.

‘Native people got there earlier than thought, before the great ice barrier at the height of the last glacial maximum closed the path to southern Alaska. The route and how they got there has yet to be determined. White Sands is just one point on the map for now,” he said.

“The work confirms the chronology we set out for the site in 2021 using independent methods, laboratories and approaches.”

Most of the prints were left by teenagers and younger children, with occasional tracks left by adults, but also some by mammoths, giant ground sloths and dire wolves, researchers said.

“The footprints left at White Sands provide a picture of what happened: teenagers interacting with younger children and adults,” Dr. Bennett said in 2021.

Previous prints found on the White Sands track indicate that young people in the area hunted giant ground sloths by purposefully stepping in the animal’s tracks.

Other studies have found evidence that humans lived on the North American continent thousands of years earlier than previously thought.

In July 2020, stone tools were discovered in a cave in Mexico known as Chiquihuite, revealing archaeological evidence of human habitation dating back 27,000 years ago.

In 2018, 150,000 “unique” stone tools were found northwest of Austin, Texas, indicating that humans were living on the continent as early as 20,000 years ago.

In 2019, human footprints dating back 15,600 years were found in Chile and were believed at the time to be the oldest known human footprint tracks in the Americas.

White Sands was designated a megatrack site in 2014 and contains the world’s largest collection of fossilized Pleistocene-era footprints, dating from 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago.