London-Sana
In a new discovery that gives new information about the beginning of human settlement in the Americas, a team of British researchers found human footprints dating back about 23,000 years in the US state of New Mexico.
According to the BBC, researchers from Bournemouth University found the footprints in the soft mud on the edge of a shallow lake that is now part of the White Sands region in New Mexico, and based on their size, they belong to adults, teenagers and children who were traveling back and forth. It is estimated at 23,000 years.
The researchers pointed out that this discovery means that humans reached the Americas about 7,000 years earlier than was previously known, as it was believed that they had reached them about 16,000 years ago.
Professor Matthew Bennett, lead author of the paper from Bournemouth University, said: “One of the reasons there is so much controversy about the beginning of human settlement in the Americas is that there is a real lack of consistent, unambiguous data,” adding that “footprints are not like stone tools... they are A fingerprint cannot move up and down in the soil layers,” referring to the accuracy of the information it gives about the ages of its owners.
The new discovery could change views about when humans settled in the Americas, indicates that there may have been major migrations that scientists don't know about now, and also raises the possibility that these former populations may have become extinct.