40,000-year-old footprint of first Americans

[Laisrean]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/07/05/wfoot05.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/07/05/ixworld.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/07/05/wfoot05.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/07/05/ixworld.html)


A plastic replica of a 40,000-year-old, size eight foot has shattered previous theories of the identity of the first humans to walk in the Americas.

Scientists made the foot from tracks left on the shore of an ancient volcanic lake in central Mexico.

The traditional view is that the first settlers walked across the Bering Strait, from Russia to Alaska, at the end of the last ice age around 11,500 to 11,000 years ago.

But the discovery of footprints in the Valsequillo Basin by a British-led team provides new evidence that humans settled in the Americas as early as 40,000 years ago, suggesting that there were several migration waves at different times by different groups.

I wonder if these people, 40,000 years ago, ever thought what controvery their footprints would cause. :hehehehe:

[Ben Gruagach]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/07/05/wfoot05.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/07/05/ixworld.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/07/05/wfoot05.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/07/05/ixworld.html)
I wonder if these people, 40,000 years ago, ever thought what controvery their footprints would cause. :hehehehe:

I wonder if they are positive whether the footprints are homo sapiens, neandertal, or some other hominid?

[Trithemius]

I wonder if they are positive whether the footprints are homo sapiens, neandertal, or some other hominid?

It would be nearly impossible to tell without some type of archaeological evidence found with the footprints, such as stone tools that could be positively matched to a known culture.

[gwendar]

That's really interesting, thanks for posting! :)

[Laisrean]

I wonder if they are positive whether the footprints are homo sapiens, neandertal, or some other hominid?

The current established belief among scientists is that there have at no point in time ever been any great apes in the new world aside from humans. However, bigfoot/sasquatch is a possibility that hasn't yet been proven so who knows? But the article says the footprints are size 8, so I doubt they are bigfoot. :)

[Ben Gruagach]

I just wondered about how they can be sure they are homo sapiens and not something else, as I know that other footprints (modern ones as well as ancient) sometimes look human when they're not.

One example that comes to mind is the ancient dinosaur tracks that some people insist were actually made by giant humans (http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/paluxy/tsite.html) and are brought out as proof that humans and dinosaurs existed at the same time on Earth.

I've also heard that sometimes bear tracks can be mistaken for either human or bigfoot tracks depending on the circumstances. And racoon footprints can sometimes look awfully human -- tiny, but still human -- so it wouldn't surprise me if someone might think they had found proof of faeries or something when all they have are racoons.

[Zibblsnrt]

I just wondered about how they can be sure they are homo sapiens and not something else, as I know that other footprints (modern ones as well as ancient) sometimes look human when they're not.

One example that comes to mind is the ancient dinosaur tracks that some people insist were actually made by giant humans (http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/paluxy/tsite.html) and are brought out as proof that humans and dinosaurs existed at the same time on Earth.

I've also heard that sometimes bear tracks can be mistaken for either human or bigfoot tracks depending on the circumstances. And racoon footprints can sometimes look awfully human -- tiny, but still human -- so it wouldn't surprise me if someone might think they had found proof of faeries or something when all they have are racoons.

Well, as Laisrean said, there's no real evidence of higher primates in North America before we crossed over from Russia awhile back. If something with human footprints was wandering North America, it was almost certainly a human.

As for mistaking footprints for those of completely different species, that sounds like a mistake a layman would make much more readily than a trained anthropologist (or a half-trained one, for that matter).

[Choro's Mom]

The traditional view is that the first settlers walked across the Bering Strait, from Russia to Alaska, at the end of the last ice age around 11,500 to 11,000 years ago.

Interesting; that's not what I had learned. My understanding was that multiple waves of migrants crossed the land bridge that existed from approximately 40,000 years ago until it was swamped about 9,000 to 10,000 years ago. Those who came around 11,000 years ago were not the first migrants, but the last wave.