Scientists found footprints 23,000 years old.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — Scientists find the earliest evidence of human activity in America. Footprints found in White Sands National Park in New Mexico provide the earliest unequivocal evidence of human activity in the Americas.
This evidence provides a picture of human life more than 23,000 years ago. The footprints formed in the soft mud on the shores of the shallow lake that is now part of the Alkali Flat of the White Sands.
Researchers from the United States (US) Geological Survey dated these tracks using radiocarbon dating. Date ranges in age confirm human existence for at least two millennia with the oldest traces being around 23,000 years ago, which corresponds to the height of the last glacial cycle. This makes it the oldest known human footprint in America.
Research published in Science on September 24 this was carried out by scientists from Cormell, University of Bournrmouth, National Service Service, US Geological Survey and the University of Arizona.
Trail at White Sands
The trail was first discovered by David Bustons, the park’s resource manager. To investigate the site, the team pioneered a non-invasive geophysical technique led by Thomas Urban, a research scientist in the College of Art and Sciences and with the Cornell Tree Ring Laboratory.
Detection and imaging with non-destructive technology allows scientists to study footprints in a wider context. “Now we have a unique window in life during Pleistoses in North America. “This new study provides the first unequivocal evidence of continued human presence in the Americas thousands of years earlier than most archaeologists think,” Urban said. Phys, Friday (24/9).
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