Triple test confirms age of oldest human footprints in North America

For decades it was believed that the first humans in North America were the Clovis culture, with ample evidence placing them on the continent as far back as 13,000 years ago

In 2021, archeologists caused a stir with the announcement that a set of fossilized human footprints in New Mexico dated back more than 20,000 years – several millennia earlier than humans were thought to have set foot in North America. Now two extra dating methods have seemingly confirmed the age.

For decades it was believed that the first humans in North America were the Clovis culture, with ample evidence placing them on the continent as far back as 13,000 years ago. However, there were some scattered signs of human presence that may have predated the Clovis people by a few thousands years.

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In 2021, a controversial study examined human footprints at an archeological site in White Sands National Park, New Mexico, and found that they were approximately 21,000 and 23,000 years old. If true, that would require quite a drastic shake-up of the timeline of human migration.

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