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DUKAS_161421030_FER
Oldest footprints ever found in North America confirmed
Ferrari Press Agency
Footprints 1
Ref 15166
09/10/2023
See Ferrari text
Pictures MUST credit: USGS
Human footprints made in the last Ice Age , 20,000 years ago have been confirmed as the oldest ever found in North America.
For decades it was believed that the first humans in North America were a from a culture called Clovis by anthropologists.
Evidence placing them on the continent as far back as 13,000 years ago.
However, new testing confirms age of oldest human footprints in North America.
The testing came after archeologists caused a stir with the announcement in 2021 they had found a set of fossilised human footprints in the White Sands area of New Mexico dating aback around 20,000 years.
The announcement and results of the dating methodology used sparked dissent in the scientific community over the accuracy.
The controversy centred on the accuracy of the original ages, which were obtained by radiocarbon dating.
The age of the White Sands footprints was initially determined by dating seeds of the common aquatic plant Ruppia cirrhosa found in the fossilised impressions.
But aquatic plants can acquire carbon from dissolved carbon atoms in the water rather than ambient air, which can potentially cause the measured ages to be too old.
But now a new study by the US Geological Survey along with the UK’s Bournemouth University has confirmed the original age calculation.
OPS: Footprints at the base of trench in White Sands National Park in New Mexico
Picture suplied by Ferrari (FOTO: DUKAS/FERRARI PRESS)