<< Other Photo Pages >> Fossilized Footprints - White Sands National Park - Ancient Trackway in United States in The Southwest

Submitted by AKFisher on Saturday, 07 October 2023  Page Views: 1097

Mesolithic, Palaeolithic and EarlierSite Name: Fossilized Footprints - White Sands National Park Alternative Name: Lake Otero Footprints, Tularosa Basin Footprints
Country: United States
NOTE: This site is 36.387 km away from the location you searched for.
Region: The Southwest Type: Ancient Trackway
Nearest Town: Alamogordo, NM
Latitude: 32.801640N  Longitude: 106.32496W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
 3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
 3 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
 1 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
 5

Internal Links:
External Links:

Fossilized Footprints - White Sands National Park
Fossilized Footprints - White Sands National Park submitted by AKFisher : Site depiction showing fossilized human footprints. NPS photo. (Vote or comment on this photo)
For 80 years, only a small collection of fossilized footprints were known to exist at White Sands. However, in 2006, a group of scientists noticed dark spots dotting the expanse of the lakebed that appeared to be footprints. Their curiosities lead them to dig up these dark spots in 2009. This led to the discovery of both Harlan’s ground sloth and human footprints.

During the 2010s, footprints of a dire wolf were discovered. Some of the human footprints were located next to ancient seeds. Scientists dated these seeds to more than 18,000 years ago, although debate continues as to the actual age and accuracy of the dating, see the comments below.

In 2018, researchers discovered what they believe to be footprints of a female. They tell a story that may seem familiar today; her footprints show her walking for almost a mile, with a toddler’s footprints occasionally showing up beside hers. Evidence suggests that she carried the child, shifting them from side to side and occasionally setting the child down as they walked. The footprints broadened and slipped in the mud as a result of the additional weight she was carrying.

Footprints across White Sands have been found coexisting and interacting with extinct ice age animals. One set of footprints shows what appears to be humans stalking a giant sloth. This is demonstrated by human footprints being found inside the footprints of the sloth as they were tracked. Unfortunately for our hunter, there is no evidence that this was a fruitful hunt.

Although the reason for the disappearance of the great animals of the ice age is still debated among scientists. The ice age ended because of changes in the earth’s climate. Environments once rich in lush green life began to disappear. The fossilized footprints of White Sands are probably the most important resources in the Americas to understand the interaction of humans and extinct animals from the ice age.

These fossilized footprints, among other natural and cultural features found in the dunefield, further propelled the movement to re-designate White Sands National Monument into White Sands National Park. As a massive landscape filled with history, White Sands continually proves to be more than just a sandbox.[1]

Reference:
1. National Park Service ~ White Sands National Park website, "Fossilized Footprints" (see below link)

Further reading and information:
NPS
United States Geological Survey

Directions: From Alamogordo, NM via US-70 W, 16.2 mi. (approximate location ~ visit Park Headquarters for specific directions).

Note: New independent dating confirms the antiquity of the ancient human footprints at White Sands, more in the comments on our page
You may be viewing yesterday's version of this page. To see the most up to date information please register for a free account.


Fossilized Footprints - White Sands National Park
Fossilized Footprints - White Sands National Park submitted by Dodomad : USGS scientists & partners have confirmed, with 2 new lines of evidence, that human footprints found in White Sands Nat'l Park show that people lived in North America 21-23,000 yrs ago - much earlier than previously thought! (Vote or comment on this photo)

Fossilized Footprints - White Sands National Park
Fossilized Footprints - White Sands National Park submitted by Dodomad (Vote or comment on this photo)

Fossilized Footprints - White Sands National Park
Fossilized Footprints - White Sands National Park submitted by AKFisher : A trench dug into the brown gypsum soil on a lake playa in White Sands National Park reveals more human footprints below the surface. NPS Photo. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Fossilized Footprints - White Sands National Park
Fossilized Footprints - White Sands National Park submitted by AKFisher : Long before the sand dunes formed at White Sands National Park, teenagers left their footprints in the mud, only to be discovered thousands of years later to reveal what daily life may have been like during the ice age. NPS photo. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Fossilized Footprints - White Sands National Park
Fossilized Footprints - White Sands National Park submitted by AKFisher : Fossilized footprints ~ White Sands National Park. Photo credit: NPS.

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.
Click here to see more info for this site

Nearby sites

Click here to view sites on an interactive map of the area

Key: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed

Download sites to:
KML (Google Earth)
GPX (GPS waypoints)
CSV (Garmin/Navman)
CSV (Excel)

To unlock full downloads you need to sign up as a Contributory Member. Otherwise downloads are limited to 50 sites.


Turn off the page maps and other distractions

Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 56.4km SW 235° Summerford Mountain Archaeology District Rock Art
 67.2km NNE 26° Three Rivers Petroglyphs* Rock Art
 101.8km SSE 165° Hueco Tanks State Park & Historic Site* Rock Art
 129.0km S 191° Caballo Blanco de Juárez Hill Figure or Geoglyph
 187.1km WNW 285° Gila Cliff Dwellings* Ancient Village or Settlement
 229.2km NNW 344° Los Lunas Decalogue Stone* Marker Stone
 240.6km WNW 300° Tularosa cave* Cave or Rock Shelter
 250.5km WNW 293° Cordova Cave* Cave or Rock Shelter
 255.5km N 354° Maxwell Museum of Anthropology* Museum
 260.2km NNW 334° Acoma Pueblo Ancient Village or Settlement
 262.7km N 351° Petroglyph National Monument Rock Art
 262.7km N 351° Petroglyph Nat. Mon.* Rock Art
 264.9km N 352° Boca Negra Canyon* Rock Art
 311.3km NW 324° Atsinna Pueblo* Ancient Village or Settlement
 311.3km SSW 210° Paquime Ancient Village or Settlement
 313.7km WNW 300° Casa Malpais* Ancient Village or Settlement
 323.1km ENE 59° Blackwater Draw* Museum
 331.1km N 1° Bandelier National Monument* Ancient Village or Settlement
 331.5km N 1° Bandelier National Mounument - Tyuonyi* Ancient Village or Settlement
 331.7km N 1° Bandelier National Monument - Long House* Ancient Village or Settlement
 331.8km NNW 333° Blue J Ancient Village or Settlement
 332.1km N 354° Jemez Gallina Culture* Ancient Village or Settlement
 332.2km N 1° Bandelier National Monument - Alcove House* Ancient Village or Settlement
 332.4km NNW 332° Casamero* Ancient Village or Settlement
 338.7km NW 305° Table Rock Pueblo* Ancient Village or Settlement
View more nearby sites and additional images

<< Hontoon Island State Park

White Mountain Wyoming >>

Please add your thoughts on this site

Contribute!

· NEW: I have visited
· I would like to visit
· Submit an Image
· Add a description
· Give accurate position
· Add a comment or news about this site

Caithness Archaeology: Aspects of Prehistory

Caithness Archaeology: Aspects of Prehistory

Sponsors

Auto-Translation (Google)

Translate from English into:

"Fossilized Footprints - White Sands National Park" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
Go back to top of page    Comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
New independent dating confirms antiquity of ancient human footprints at White Sands by Andy B on Saturday, 07 October 2023
(User Info | Send a Message)
New radiocarbon (14C) and optically simulated luminescence ages have confirmed the controversial antiquity of the ancient human footprints discovered in White Sands National Park, and reported in a study in 2021. Addressing the widespread criticism of their previous study, researchers report that the independent ages from multiple resolved sources have conclusively shown that the footprints were left behind between roughly 23,000 and 20,000 years ago, demonstrating that humans were present in southern North America during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM).

When and how humans first migrated into North America has long been debated and remains poorly understood. Current estimates for the timing of these first occupants range from ~13,000 years ago to more than 20,000 years ago. However, the earliest archaeological evidence for the region’s settlement is sparse and often controversial. In a Science study published in September 2021 (Bennett et al.), researchers reported the discovery of in situ human footprints preserved in an ancient lakebed dating to between ~23,000 and 21,000 years ago in what is now White Sands National Park – findings which suggest nearly 2,000 years of human occupation in North America during the height of the LGM. However, since the study’s publication, the accuracy of the radiocarbon dates has been debated. It’s argued that the ancient seeds from the aquatic plant (Ruppia cirrhosa) that were used to date the surfaces the footprints were embedded in have the potential to be affected by old carbon reservoir effects that could influence the reported radiocarbon ages and make them appear older than they truly are.

Here, Jeffery Pigati, Kathleen Springer, and colleagues report new evidence in the form of multiple independent age estimates of the White Sands footprints, which support their previous study’s claims. “We always knew that we would have to independently evaluate the accuracy of our ages to convince the archaeological community that the peopling of the Americas occurred far earlier than traditionally thought,” said Pigati.

More at
popular-archaeology.com/article/new-independent-ages-confirm-antiquity-of-ancient-human-footprints-at-white-sands/

See also
www.scientificamerican.com/article/ancient-footprints-affirm-people-lived-in-the-americas-more-than-20-000-years-ago/

www.usgs.gov/news/national-news-release/study-confirms-age-oldest-fossil-human-footprints-north-america
[ Reply to This ]

Debate continues over age of ancient footprints by Andy B on Friday, 15 September 2023
(User Info | Send a Message)
When and how ancient humans reached the Americas remains one of the most contentious topics in prehistory.

Last year, the journal Science published a study of preserved footprints in New Mexico’s White Sands area that pushed the date back to between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago.

Findings in the journal Quaternary Research are challenging that assessment.

Based on carbon dating of aquatic plant seeds found in cross-sections contemporaneous with the White Sands footprints, the Science paper argued for the former.

But the new analysis suggests those calculations failed to fully compensate for a key fact: The submerged plants would have taken carbon from the surrounding water.

Radiocarbon dating takes advantage of the fact that cosmic rays continually create a radioactive isotope of carbon in the Earth’s atmosphere. This “flavor,” called carbon-14, is absorbed by plants during photosynthesis. Once a plant (or an animal that ate it) dies, this atmospheric exchange stops, and the carbon-14 in the remains undergoes radioactive decay.

Scientists know the ratio of carbon-14 in the atmosphere during a given period. By comparing that amount to the undecayed quantity in a fossilized plant or animal, they can approximate the sample’s age.

But the seeds used in the Science study came from a plant called Ruppia cirrhosa, also known as spiral ditchgrass or spiral tasselweed. Because it grows underwater, it would have drawn much of its carbon from surrounding water. That carbon, which originated from the eroded bedrock of the Tularosa Valley and the surrounding mountains, would have tested as older.

The authors of the new paper say the previous authors took this into account but underestimated its effect.

More: fronterasdesk.org/content/1826291/debate-continues-over-age-ancient-footprints
[ Reply to This ]

Your Name: Anonymous [ Register Now ]
Subject:


Add your comment or contribution to this page. Spam or offensive posts are deleted immediately, don't even bother

<<< What is five plus one as a number? (Please type the answer to this question in the little box on the left)
You can also embed videos and other things. For Youtube please copy and paste the 'embed code'.
For Google Street View please include Street View in the text.
Create a web link like this: <a href="https://www.megalithic.co.uk">This is a link</a>  

Allowed HTML is:
<p> <b> <i> <a> <img> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <tt> <li> <ol> <ul> <object> <param> <embed> <iframe>
We would like to know more about this location. Please feel free to add a brief description and any relevant information in your own language.
Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
Nous aimerions en savoir encore un peu sur les lieux. S'il vous plaît n'hesitez pas à ajouter une courte description et tous les renseignements pertinents dans votre propre langue.
Quisieramos informarnos un poco más de las lugares. No dude en añadir una breve descripción y otros datos relevantes en su propio idioma.