The discovery of fossilized footprints made in what’s now New Mexico was a bombshell moment for archaeology, seemingly rewriting a chapter of the human story. New research is offering further evidence of their significance.
When the discovery of fossilized footprints made in what’s now New Mexico was made public in 2021, it was a bombshell moment for archaeology, seemingly rewriting a chapter of the human story. Now new research is offering further evidence of their significance. While they look like they could have been made yesterday, the footprints were pressed into mud 21,000 to 23,000 years ago, according to radiocarbon dating of the seeds of an aquatic plant that were preserved above and below the fossils.
The scientists were able to isolate some 75,000 grains of pollen, collected from the exact same layers as the original seeds, for each sample. Thousands of grains are required to achieve the mass necessary for a single radiocarbon measurement. The pollen age matched that found for the seeds. The team also used a dating technique known as optically stimulated luminescence, which determines the last time quartz grains in the fossil sediment were exposed to sunlight.
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