NEW YORK, BRONX (ORDO News) — Scientists from the US Geological Survey are rewriting history again. Recent research confirms that footprints at White Sands National Park are older than previously thought. They are no longer 23,000 years old, but even more – from 21,000 to 23,000 years old.
This find changes previous ideas about the time of the arrival of the first people in North America. It was previously believed that people appeared on the continent 11,000-13,000 years ago. However, new research using several dating methods suggests otherwise.
Researchers point to the period of the Last Glacial Maximum (between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago) when people left their traces at White Sands. At this time there was a sharp warming in the Northern Hemisphere. This event lowered lake levels and opened up new surfaces on which humans and megafauna left their traces.
These discoveries not only change our understanding of human migration in North America, but also raise questions about how they coped with the challenges of the Ice Ages and how they adapted to changing environmental conditions.
“These findings indicate the presence of humans in North America for approximately two millennia during the Last Glacial Maximum south of the migration barrier created by the ice sheets to the north,” the researchers wrote in the original study.
This discovery could lead to a revision of ancient maps and ideas about how our ancestors came to this continent. Scientists will continue research to more accurately understand the migration flows and life of the first inhabitants of North America.
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