Provided by Will Dunham
(Reuters) -The line of evidence provides further confirmation of the ancient traces found in the new Mexican National Park, ancient times that rewrites people’s history in America.
Researchers used a technique called radio hydrocarbon dating to determine that the organic matter in the residue of the wetland dirt and shallow lakes in the remains of the fossilized foot is between 20 700 and 22 400 years. This exactly correlates with previous conclusions based on the age of pollen and seeds that the tracks are between 21,000 and 23,000 years.
Traces, which were discovered in 2021, indicate that people for thousands of years earlier than before, in the past thousands of years than before, during the last Ice Age conditions, the time called the last glacial maximum.
The age of the traces was a controversial issue.
Asked how the new conclusions correspond to the previous conclusions, the research manager of the University of Arizona, Vance Holliday, replied, “Impressively good.”
Homo Sapiens emerged in Africa about 300,000 years ago and later spread around the world. Scientists believe our species have entered North America from Asia, walking through the land bridge, which once connected Siberia into Alaska. Previous archaeological evidence shows that the occupation of the people of North America began about 16,000 years ago.
The hunters who left the tracks went to the dam of rivers flowing into an ancient body of water called Lake Otero. The dirt they walked covered, covering pieces of semi -pig plants that grew into these wetlands.
Radiocarbonograms dating is used to determine the age of organic matter based on the degradation of the isotope, called carbon-14, the carbon element. Living organisms absorb carbon-14 into their tissue. Over time, this isotope changes to other atoms after the death of the body, providing metrics to determine age.
“Three separate carbon sources – pollen, seeds and organic dirt and sediment – are now dated by different radio hydrocarbons laboratory during track tests. They all show the last glacier of maximum trace of the trace,” said Jason Windingstad, a doctoral candidate for environmental science and a study.
Original 2021 The study dates back to traces using radio hydrocarbons on a water plant called a spiral ditch, found near the tracks. 2023 The published study used radio hydrocarbons dating on conifer pollen grains from the same sediment layers as the Ditchgrass seeds.
However, some scientists viewed seeds and pollen as unreliable markers for dating. The new study gives further confirmation of dating, at which time it is better to understand the local landscape.
“When the original paper appeared, we were not aware of the ancient landscape at the time because it was buried under the white sand dune field or was destroyed when the ancient Lake Otero, which had a lot of plaster, dried up after the last glacier and wiped off the wind to make copies.
Today, the landscape, located directly to the west of the city of Alamogord, forms beige beige mineral plaster dunes.
“The area of the tracks and around it was the water that went to the mountains to the east, the Old Lake and the land of the swamp along the fringes of the lake. Our dating shows that this environment has survived before people left their tracks,” Holliday said.
This area could provide important resources to hunters-gathering.
“We know from the abundant paths in the area that at least there were mammoths, giant ground lazy, camels and painful wolves, and probably other large animals. In the light of this, there were many other animals, as well as plants,” added Hollday.
The climate was significantly different than today, and the cooler rainfall of summer and territory was significantly more.
“It is important to note that this is a track site, not a location,” said Windingstad. “It gives a narrow view of people traveling through the landscape. From where they went and where they came from, there is an obviously open question that requires discovery and digging of similar age.
(Will Dunham’s message in Washington, edited by Rosalba O’Brien)