(ORDO NEWS) — A 12,000-year-old collection of 88 “ghost footprints” has been unearthed at a US Air Force test site.
Archaeologists have discovered ancient footprints at a testing and training ground in Utah. They are called “ghost tracks” because of the way they are preserved.
During the Pleistocene era, the arid region may have been marshy, and the footprints appear to have belonged to a group of people, including children, who walked barefoot in shallow water.
Beneath the sand was a layer of dirt that preserved the imprint.
“We found a lot more than we bargained for,” said Hill Air Force Base Cultural Resources Manager Anya Kitterman.
The prints are about a kilometer away from other recent finds, including an open hearth that is about 12,300 years old.
Archaeologists have also found burnt bird bones, charcoal and numerous artifacts such as projectile points and stone tools.
Evidence of the earliest known human tobacco use in the world has also been found.
“We also collected print infills to see if we could find organic materials for radiocarbon dating,” said lead researcher Daron Duke.
“We want to describe the prints themselves in more detail to find out who was in the group and how they used the area. We also talk to Native American tribes to get their opinion.”
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