Ancient footprints in the US have been found to date back to 23,000 years ago, a new study has revealed.
Scientists discovered that the White Sands National Park footprints date back to the Ice Age when they were examined by scientists.
The new findings could open up new scientific debates about when humans first arrived in Americas, if they are confirmed.
Because of it opening up migration routes, it was thought that humans arrived in America after the North American ice sheet melted.
The footprints show that humans arrived in the Americas much earlier than previously believed.
(Image: Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Professor Vance Holliday of the University of Arizona said: “There has been a lot of debate over many years about the first peopling of the Americas with several early sites identified.
“Few archaeologists see reliable evidence for sites older than about 16,000 years. The White Sands tracks provide a much earlier date.”
The footprints were formed in soft mud around a shallow lake which now forms part of Alkali Flat a large playa at White Sands.
Researchers from the US Geological Survey dated these tracks using radiocarbon dating of seed layers above and below the footprint.
Their findings confirm human presence over at least two millennia with the oldest tracks dating from around 23,000 years ago.
These footprints tell a fascinating story about how life was at that time. They were left mostly by teens and younger children.
The site also contained tracks that belonged to dire wolves, mammoths, giant ground sloths, and birds.
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Bournemouth University Principal Academic in Hominin Paleoecology Dr. Sally Reynolds said: “It is an important site because of all of the trackways we’ve found there show an interaction of humans in the landscape alongside extinct animals like mammoths and giant sloths.
“We can see the co-existence between humans and animals on the site as a whole, and by being able to accurately date these footprints, we’re building a greater picture of the landscape.”