Most people don’t think twice when they see footprints. So it’s likely that if you happened to find yourself roaming New Mexico’s White Sands National Park and you stumbled upon a set of perfectly engrained footprints, you might observe them only for a moment before returning to your hike. However, these prints are not as ordinary as they appear. Initially discovered in 2021, they are fossilized “ghost footprints” that date back more than 20,000 years ago. While this number may not shock you… It should! Because scientists previously thought the first people in the Americas were the Clovis people – whose origins date back a measly 13,000 years ago. This means more than seven millenniums of human migration in the Americas are unaccounted for. And trust me, a lot can happen in 7,000 years.
In a new study, scientists used radiocarbon dating of the pollens found in sediment beneath the footprints and luminescence dating of quartz found in the same area. Although some scientists are skeptical of the accuracy of this data, it generally confirms that the mystery people were in New Mexico during the last ice age or “last glacial maxim.” To put this in perspective, giant sloths and Pleistocene mammals from the surrounding lake area coexisted and were likely hunted by these white sand people. Matthew Bennett, the geologist who recently reported on the foot anatomy of the prints, even hypothesizes that one of the footprint sites, which contains 37 prints, is likely from children. I guess these kiddos really liked playing in the mud.
This discovery has completely rattled previous scientific hypotheses on human migration to the Americas. While initially, the first people had seemingly crossed the Bering land bridge to North America from Eurasia – this no longer adds up because the bridge would have been enveloped with layers of ice during the last ice age. This only begs the question – how did these folks get here?
Archeologists are realizing this is only a chip off the ol’ iceberg. With sites like these being more frequently discovered, some scientists feel hopeful that we are closer to understanding the depths of our human history. You could say the Clovis people have been booted from the anthropology spotlight and now the White Sands people are all the rage.
