Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Pigati, Jeffrey S.
• Springer, Kathleen B.
• Honke, Jeffrey S.
• Wahl, David
• Champagne, Marie R.
• Zimmerman, Susan R. H.
• Gray, Harrison J.
• Santucci, Vincent L.
• Odess, Daniel
• Bustos, David
• Bennett, Matthew R.

Titel

Independent age estimates resolve the controversy of ancient human footprints at White Sands

Ist Teil von

• Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), 2023-10, Vol.382 (6666), p.73-75

Ort / Verlag

Washington: The American Association for the Advancement of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

2023

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Science Online《科学》周刊

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Human footprints at White Sands National Park, New Mexico, USA, reportedly date to between ~23,000 and 21,000 years ago according to radiocarbon dating of seeds from the aquatic plant Ruppia cirrhosa . These ages remain controversial because of potential old carbon reservoir effects that could compromise their accuracy. We present new calibrated 14 C ages of terrestrial pollen collected from the same stratigraphic horizons as those of the Ruppia seeds, along with optically stimulated luminescence ages of sediments from within the human footprint–bearing sequence, to evaluate the veracity of the seed ages. The results show that the chronologic framework originally established for the White Sands footprints is robust and reaffirm that humans were present in North America during the Last Glacial Maximum. Editor’s summary Traditionally, researchers believed that humans arrived in North America around 16,000 to 13,000 years ago. Recently, however, evidence has accumulated supporting a much earlier date. In 2021, fossilized footprints from White Sands National Park in New Mexico were dated to between 20,000 and 23,000 years ago, providing key evidence for earlier occupation, although this finding was controversial. Pigati et al . returned to the White Sands footprints and obtained new dates from multiple, highly reliable sources (see the Perspective by Philippsen). They, too, resolved dates of 20,000 to 23,000 years ago, reconfirming that humans were present far south of the ice sheets during the Last Glacial Maximum. —Sacha Vignieri New radiocarbon and luminescence ages confirm the antiquity of human footprints in White Sands National Park in New Mexico.