Erosion along a beach in England has revealed ancient human and animal footprints.
Thousands of years ago, a swath of land along what is now the western coast of England served as a superhighway for humans and animals alike. Today, the ebb and flow of each passing tide reveals more of the ancient footprints that these long-gone travelers stamped into the once mud-caked route.
In a new study published in the October issue of Nature Ecology and Evolution , researchers found that the trackways, some of which are more than 8,000 years old, date from the Mesolithic period, or Middle Stone Age to medieval times . Researchers recovered seeds from alder, birch and spruce trees scattered within the layers of the route and radiocarbon-dated them to pinpoint the age of the tracks.
"Only some of the outcrops are visible at any one time," Alison Burns, the study's lead author and an archaeologist at The University of Manchester in England, told Live Science."The farther down you [dig], the older the outcroppings are."The mishmash of tracks was originally discovered in the late 1970s by a geologist who thought they were"cattle footprints.
"The footprints are preserved under the sand, and as the coastline is being eroded, the water is eating away at the cover that helped preserve them," Burns said."When the tracks were made, they were filled with sand and then a layer of mud. That's how you get these stacks [of footprints]. Once you have four or five beds on top of each other, the top layer is vulnerable [to erosion], but the ones beneath it are quite well preserved.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Pair of 1880s Levi's Sold for $76,000 at Auction Offer Snapshot of America's Anti-Asian PastImprinted on the inside pocket of the jeans is a phrase that was commonly added to products after the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
Read more »
A new study shows the first animals' lives at the poles - here's howA study led by the British Antarctic Survey indicates that polar marine creatures' survival methods may help to explain how the ancient animals on Earth could have evolved earlier than the oldest fossils.
Read more »
Gas Drilling Is Disrupting Animal MigrationScientists are investigating why large animals like the mule deer of Wyoming go where they go—and how humans can get out of their way.
Read more »
As Adams declares state of emergency, what caused the migrant crisis in NYC?As New York City declares a state of emergency over the migrant crisis, the past provides insight on what’s driving scores of asylum seekers to the city.
Read more »