Scientists discover mysterious 23,000-year-old American culture in breakthrough

A "remarkable" archaeology breakthrough has placed humans in North America 10,000 years earlier than previously thought, upending decades of established understanding.

Researchers have analysed sets of fossilised footprints found in the arid White Sands National Park, a significant archaeological site in New Mexico, and discovered that a mysterious group of people walked the area's ancient lakebeds between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago. The new project has challenged a nearly 100-year-old consensus that the Clovis, an archaeological culture, were the first human inhabitants on the continent, with breakthroughs in 1929 suggesting the settlers had been present there 13,000 years ago.

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Researchers involved in the study, which was published in Science Advances, used radiocarbon dating on ancient mud layers at the site which contained the footprints, and had their results corroborated by independent laboratories.

They found three types of material - mud, seeds and pollen - which were dated by three separate labs, all of which produced consistent results. For the latest study, lead researcher Vance Holliday, a University of Arizona archaeologist and geologist, and Jason Windingstad, a doctoral candidate in environmental science, returned to White Sands in 2022 and 2023.

There they dug a new series of trenches for a closer look at the geology of the lake beds, with Professor Holliday hailing the accuracy of the "remarkable" record.

He said: "It's a remarkably consistent record. You get to the point where it's really hard to explain all this away. As I say in the paper, it would be serendipity in the extreme to have all these dates giving you a consistent picture that's in error." Mr Windingstad said: "It's a strange feeling when you go out there and look at the footprints and see them in person.

"You realise that it basically contradicts everything that you've been taught about the peopling of North America." Professor Holliday said the footprints suggested early hunter-gatherers may have briefly visited the area, as they left no artefacts or settlements.

The discovery rewrites a significant chapter in the story of human migration to the Americas, offering the earliest direct evidence of people on the continent and prompting fresh debate about how and when the first Americans arrived. Researchers from Bournemouth University and the US National Park Service excavated the footprints in 2019 and published their paper in 2021.

They were formed in soft mud on the margins of a shallow lake that, in the 21st century, forms part of Alkali Flat, a large playa in the White Sands, Bournemouth University's study explained.

They appeared to have primarily come from teenagers andyounger children, with occasional adults interspersed among the crowd of travelling hunter-gatherers. Humans weren't the only people believed to have made tracks, however, with ancient megafauna also detected, including gian ground sloth, dire wolves and some birds.