Ancient Mystery Unearthed: The Americas’ Oldest Human Footprint Challenges History Books
While the print itself was unearthed in 2010 by a student at the university, scientists have spent the last nine years tirelessly ruling out the possibility that it belonged to some type of animal species and assessing the fossil’s estimated age.
As the study’s lead author, Moreno said researchers also found animal bones nearby, including those of early elephants. Moreno explained that this was the first official evidence of human activity in the Americas older than 12,000 years.
“Little by little in South America we’re starting to find sites with evidence of human presence, but this is the oldest in the Americas,” she said.
https://x.com/Jala__WashTV/status/1122305786816888832
According to IFL Science, the print predates the previous oldest evidence of humans in South America by at least 1,000 years.
This particular footprint was found in Osorno, Chile. The site was littered with mastodon and horse bones in addition to the primitive elephant remains. Researchers believe these animals were hunted, as flakes of stone theorized to have been part of tools or weapons were found at the site as well.
In terms of Moreno’s methodology in dating this footprint, the paleontologist took a fairly basic yet entirely logical approach. Because the print itself couldn’t be dated, the sediment beneath it certainly could. Fortunately, the same layer containing the footprint also had seeds, wood, and a piece of mastodon skull embedded into its fabric.
This allowed for a fairly reliable timeframe that predated the 14,600-year-old stone tool evidence found at Monte Verde in 2015. Of course, Moreno’s second claim — that the ancient print was created by a person — needed equally scientific evidence to back it up.
Post Comment