Independent age estimates resolve the controversy of ancient human footprints at White Sands

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Pigati, Jeffrey S.; Springer, Kathleen B.; Honke, Jeffrey S.; Wahl, David; Champagne, Marie R.; Zimmerman, Susan R. H.; Gray, Harrison J.; Santucci, Vincent L.; Odess, Daniel; Bustos, David; Bennett, Matthew R.
• 署名单位: United States Department of the Interior; United States Geological Survey; United States Department of the Interior; United States Geological Survey; University of California System; University of California Berkeley; United States Department of Energy (DOE); Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; United States Department of the Interior; US National Park Service; United States Department of the Interior; US National Park Service; United States Department of the Interior; US National Park Service; Bournemouth University
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-9021
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adh5007
• 发表日期: 2023-10-06
• 页码: 73-75
• 关键词: north-america; pollen; sediments

摘要

Human footprints at White Sands National Park, New Mexico, USA, reportedly date to between similar to 23,000 and 21,000 years ago according to radiocarbon dating of seeds from the aquatic plant Ruppia cirrhosa. These ages remain controversial because of potential old carbon reservoir effects that could compromise their accuracy. We present new calibrated 14C ages of terrestrial pollen collected from the same stratigraphic horizons as those of the Ruppia seeds, along with optically stimulated luminescence ages of sediments from within the human footprint-bearing sequence, to evaluate the veracity of the seed ages. The results show that the chronologic framework originally established for the White Sands footprints is robust and reaffirm that humans were present in North America during the Last Glacial Maximum.