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Humans in North America 10,000 Years Earlier than Thought
- In 2019, archaeologists discovered ancient human footprints at White Sands National Park in New Mexico that have been dated to approximately 21,000 to 23,000 years in the past.
- This discovery challenged the previous consensus that humans first settled North America around 13,000 years ago, with some criticism of the dating methods.
- The footprints, formed in ancient lake mud and confirmed by radiocarbon dating of seeds and pollen, indicated brief visits by hunter-gatherers who left no artifacts or settlements.
- Lead author Vance Holliday described the findings as "a remarkably consistent record" that is "really hard to explain all this away" and noted it would be "serendipity in the extreme" if the dates were wrong.
- These findings indicate that humans were present in the southern region of North America throughout the Last Glacial Maximum, suggesting they arrived in the Americas much earlier than previously thought.
23 Articles
23 Articles
For almost a century, there was an undivided hypothesis in North American archaeology textbooks: that of "Colivis culture." According to this theory, the first humans to have populated the Americas had arrived about 13,000 years ago, leaving behind them large spikes of stone-cut projectiles, identified for the first time [...]
A new study has settled one of the most intense discussions in North America’s archaeology: when did the first humans arrive on the continent? Thanks to a rigorous analysis of fossil footprints found at White Sands National Park in New Mexico, scientists have confirmed that our ancestors walked these lands more than 23,000 years ago, long before the traditional theory accepted. A story that began in 2019, a group of archaeologists discovered hum…
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