Ancient footprints re-write humanity's history in the Americas

The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Thursday, March 28, 2024


Ancient footprints re-write humanity's history in the Americas
Researchers work on excavating a footprint in the bottom of trench at White Sands National Park in New Mexico. Human footprints found in New Mexico are at least 23,000 years old, a study reported, suggesting that people may have arrived long before the Ice Age’s glaciers melted. Dan Odess via The New York Times.



LOS ANGELES, CA.- Footprints dating back 23,000 years have been discovered in the United States, suggesting humans settled North America long before the end of the last Ice Age, research published Thursday showed.

The findings push back the date at which the continent was colonized by its first inhabitants by thousands of years.

The footprints were left in mud on the banks of a long-since dried up lake, which is now part of a New Mexico desert.

Sediment filled the indentations and hardened into rock, protecting evidence of our ancient relatives, and giving scientists a detailed insight into their lives.

"Many tracks appear to be those of teenagers and children; large adult footprints are less frequent," write the authors of the study published in the American journal Science.

"One hypothesis for this is the division of labor, in which adults are involved in skilled tasks whereas 'fetching and carrying' are delegated to teenagers.

"Children accompany the teenagers, and collectively they leave a higher number of footprints."

Researchers also found tracks left by mammoths, prehistoric wolves, and even giant sloths, which appear to have been around at the same time as the humans visited the lake.

The Americas were the last continent to be reached by humanity.

For decades, the most commonly accepted theory has been that settlers came to North America from eastern Siberia across a land bridge -- the present-day Bering Strait.

From Alaska, they headed south to kinder climes.

Archaeological evidence, including spearheads used to kill mammoths, has long suggested a 13,500-year-old settlement associated with so-called Clovis culture -- named after a town in New Mexico.

This was considered the continent's first civilization, and the forerunner of groups that became known as Native Americans.

However, the notion of Clovis culture has been challenged over the past 20 years, with new discoveries that have pushed back the age of the first settlements.

Generally, even this pushed-back estimate of the age of the first settlements had not been more than 16,000 years, after the end of the so-called "last glacial maximum" -- the period when ice sheets were at their most widespread.

This episode, which lasted until about 20,000 years ago, is crucial because it is believed that with ice covering much of the northern parts of the continent, human migration from Asia into North America and beyond would have been very difficult.


© Agence France-Presse










Today's News

September 25, 2021

At Art Basel, everyone's playing it safe

Artist Marco Brambilla on creating the visual intermezzos for Marina Abramovic's opera '7 Deaths of Maria Callas'

Andrew Jones will sell important collections online, October 10th and 24th

He taught ancient texts at Oxford. Now he is accused of stealing some.

Ancient footprints re-write humanity's history in the Americas

The 'Dream Tablet' nears the end of a long journey home

Dutch man gets eight years for Van Gogh, Hals thefts

High Museum launches LINK Digital Publishing Platform

Italian Baroque busts worth over £850,000 at risk of leaving UK

Scale model helps blind and partially-sighted visitors to enjoy a museum visit more independently

Turner Contemporary appoints new Director

Two iconic series by Sally Mann on view at Galerie Karsten Greve

The Morgan opens an exhibition of drawings by Black artists from the Southern United States

François Ghebaly opens an exhibition of works by Neil Beloufa

Mexico's indigenous weavers seek international recognition

VanDerBrink Auctions to offer collection of rare and classic cars, gas station signs and other petroliana

Denver Art Museum appoints two new Asian art curators ahead of Martin Building reopening

Dancing among tombs on a moonlit New York night: 'It feels so alive'

A Black theater flourished in New York. 200 years ago.

David Zwirner opens an exhibition of new works by Lisa Yuskavage

Finding redemption and rebirth on the road to Broadway

Watching the films of Melvin Van Peebles

Gira Sarabhai, designer who helped shape modern India, dies at 97

Paranormal play in Denver from Meow Wolf

To his surprise, his play about 2 dead U.K. politicians struck a chord

In Freeman's Books and Manuscripts Auction, pieces of American history exceed estimates

Surprising Facts About UAE's Cultural Capital - Sharjah

The I Love Jesus Collection Presented by RISING STAR

First Martian Art Station. Lina Condes released her stick figure NFT's to be seen around 1200 LED screens around Dubai.

Five Ways Digital Art Is Changing

Why tattoos are very popular These days?

Artist Anna Dianova Expands Into AR VR Virtual Reality technology and Collectors of All Ages Can't Get Enough

Meet Jia Hendrick also known as JIA




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez

sa gaming free credit
Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful