Humans experienced abrupt environmental changes at White Sands during the Last Glacial Maximum

White Sands footprints suggest humans experienced abrupt environmental shifts during the last ice age

Expanded excavations at White Sands National Park in New Mexico have provided researchers an opportunity to refine the age of the oldest human footprints in North America and establish a deeper understanding of the landscape and environmental conditions at the time humans were present there.

Footprints in the (white) sand: Humans experienced abrupt environmental shifts during the last ice age

Increased precision of radiocarbon dating and archival evidence reaffirms 23,000 years as the age of the famous footprints discovered in White Sands National Park and demonstrates humans withstood abrupt swings in the environment within individual lifetimes.

Humans experienced abrupt environmental changes at White Sands during the Last Glacial Maximum

Early humans in America endured climate chaos - new research

Share articlePrint articleSome 23,000 years ago, during the coldest part of the last ice age, people walked across the muddy margins of an ancient lake in what is now White Sands national park, New Mexico. The footprints they left behind have transformed our understanding of when people