Scientists have discovered ancient human footprints in Utah, traces, they say, of adults and children who walked barefoot along a shallow riverbed more than 12,000 years ago.
It took “pure coincidence” to make this discovery at the Utah Test and Training Range, a 2.3 million-acre site where the United States Armed Forces tests experimental aircraft and other military hardware, said Tommy Urban, a research scientist at Cornell University. Following the recent studies of Dr. Urban and his colleagues searched for ancient traces of humans and other mammals in New Mexico’s White Sands National Park, Utah’s traces expand scientific understanding of ancient North America by not only explaining the existence of a diversity of animals and to expose people. as well as evidence of their behaviour.
Daron Duke, a Nevada archaeologist for the Far Western Anthropological Research Group, invited Dr. Urban to help search for old campfires on the Utah test area. dr. Duke and his team published a paper on the contents of a campsite last year.
While driving to a dig site, the two had an animated conversation about railroad tracks. When Dr. Duke asked what a fossil footprint looked like, Dr. Urban out the window and said, “Well, kinda like THAT!” They stopped the truck after finding the first of what would later turn out to be 88 footprints.
“When I saw them from the moving vehicle, I didn’t know they were people,” said Dr. urban. “I knew they were footprints, though, because they were in an evenly spaced, alternating order — a trail pattern.”
The 88 footprints are located on several short roads, some of which indicate that people may have just gathered in one area. “It doesn’t look like we happened to find anyone walking from point A to point B,” said Dr. duke. They think these footprints are from people who lived in the area. ‘Maybe collecting things. Maybe just enjoy” in the shallows, he added.
dr. Duke said they also found some sort of stone spearhead at a nearby site that may have been used to hunt large animals, but no evidence of the animals yet.
dr. Urban compared Utah’s footprints to the “ghost tracks” in White Sands, a term used for tracks that appear only under certain conditions and then disappear just as quickly. The fossil tracks in New Mexico, a staggering 23,000 years old, were discovered using ground-penetrating radar technology and contain a wealth of revelations: tracks of ancient humans and megafauna intersecting and interacting. They showed evidence that ancient humans followed in the footsteps of huge proboscideans and vice versa; that one person ran through the mud holding a child, put that child down at one point, picked that child up again and then ran off to an unknown destination; that at least one giant ground sloth was followed by ancient humans, getting up on its hind legs and spinning around as humans surrounded it; that children played in puddles.
The discovery of the additional set of tracks in Utah suggests there are other locations in the United States where more about ancient human behavior is waiting to be revealed.
“The western US has many similar environments with early footprint sites,” said Dr. Urban across the salt flats. He added: “Now that we have a second location, there are probably more.”
Still, it was surprising to find human footprints. Humans have not inhabited the area for thousands of years. It’s a desert, it’s remote and it’s a military installation.
“When we considered these options and concluded that the most logical explanation is that the footprints were made during the late Pleistocene, we were excited,” said Dr. urban.
Utah’s footprints are more than what appears on the surface.
“They’re subtle, because they’re flush with the ground surface and generally covered with a veneer of the same sediment,” said Dr. urban. “You wouldn’t necessarily notice them if you didn’t already know what to look for.”
When footprints are created, the pressure from the tracks impacts the subsoil, providing information about the weight and size of the people or animals making those tracks, as well as the speed at which they move. By studying them with a ground radar, the team was able to find additional footprints and understand more about the tracks without destroying them.
dr. Urban and his teammates taught Dr. Duke how to carefully excavate some tracks. It was the first time that Dr. Duke worked with footprints, and he admitted he was hesitant to dig them up. But, he said, “when you see the kids’ toes forming in what you’re digging, that’s just amazing.”
Hill Air Force Base personnel, which manage the range, have been working to survey and inform Native American communities about the discovery.
“I’ve known about it for about three weeks now and I have to admit I’m still processing it because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime find,” said Anya Kitterman, an archaeologist who oversees Dr. Duke and his colleagues. working on behalf of the Air Force on the test track. “There’s something so personal about the footprints and being able to walk along these trails, knowing someone walked there years ago.”
Patty Timbimboo-Madsen, a Shoshone tribesman and cultural and natural resource manager for the Northwestern Band of Shoshone, said she couldn’t miss the chance to visit the tracks.
“It gives us proof that our people were here,” she said. “And I think our people have always been here.”
Ms. Kitterman says the Air Force is now considering how to manage the site. “We are still learning this landscape and what these tracks mean,” she said. “How do we keep them?”
And if the Utah test site is anything like what was found at White Sands, it could be worth preserving, as the researchers believe there’s a lot more to learn.
