Ancient human tracks were recently discovered at the White Sands National Park in New Mexico. The set of small footprints were traced back to more than 10,000 years ago during the Late-Pleistocene Age.
The findings were published in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews describing a double human trackway from the same person. One set of tracks revealed that the small adult female or a male adolescent was carrying a child.
The fossil tracks were well-preserved in muddy terrain and were about 1.5 miles long, the longest and straightest footprint track to be discovered. Various ancient species also walked across the same terrain such as mammoths, dire wolves, and saber-toothed cats.
There were also giant ground sloth and Columbian Mammoth tracks transecting the human footprints. The authors wrote that the ancient fossil footprints had no indication of predator and prey awareness just like the sloth prints.
Story of a Parent and Child
Matthew Bennet and Sally Reynold from Bournemouth University shared that the tracks tell a story of a parent persevering through a long trail of mud despite the threat of vicious predators. The tracks were discovered in a playa or a dried-up lakebed.
A thorough analysis of the footprints revealed several details like how the ancient human avoided puddles, slipped in certain places, and the average walking speed of about four feet per second. There was also evidence of small child tracks which revealed the times that the carrier put the child down or rested.
The toddler is predicted to be two years old or younger. The child was carried during the first trip and was not brought back during the return trip.
The team had many questions such as the purpose of the one-way destination. Perhaps the child was sick or was being returned to its mother. Whatever the reason, the carrier was determined to complete the journey with the toddler.
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Studying Ancient Footprints
The footprints are "important in helping us understand our human ancestors, how they lived, their similarities and differences," said Reynolds. Parents today can put themselves in the place of the carrier, she said. "Imagine what it was like to carry a child from arm to arm as we walk across tough terrain surrounded by potentially dangerous animals."
At the time, the mud was wet and slick. The long journey must have been exhausting, said the authors. The authors wrote that there needs to be a greater number of "footprints required to make reliable biometric inferences" and make specific conclusions.
At the same playa, researchers have also discovered mammoth tracks and human footprints in the same area. Thomas Urban from Cornell University, who worked with a team that used a ground-penetrating 3D radar to study the movements of ancient footprints, shared that they never looked under the footprints before.
"It turns out that the sediment itself has a memory that records the effects of the animal's weight and momentum in a beautiful way. It gives us a way to understand the biomechanics of extinct fauna that we never had before."
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