Ancient seas left an expanse of rolling gypsum dunes known as White Sands in New Mexico, and within this surreal landscape lies evidence that humans have roamed the Americas for at least 20,000 years.
While most of White Sands is protected as a national park, the US army controls part of it as a missile range. It was within this section that researchers found clay footprints, preserved below the gypsum, that have rewritten the timeline of human presence in the Americas.
Previously, we thought humans arrived in North America around 13,200 to 15,500 years ago.
But a new study led by University of Arizona archeologist Vance Holliday combines evidence from mud, Ruppia seeds and pollen found in layers above and below the trace fossils, to date the footprints as being between 20,700 and 22,400 years old.
Source: www.sciencealert.com
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