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New dating for White Sands footprints confirms controversial theory

Results are consistent with two earlier studies dating the footprints to between 22,000 and 24,000 years ago.

Other researchers were skeptical of those results, pointing out that the aquatic plants ( Ruppia cirrhosa) analyzed were prone to absorbing the ancient carbon in groundwater, which could have skewed the findings and made the footprints seem older than they actually were. There's yet another criticism of this earlier timeline that even Holliday admits is perfectly valid: To date, archaeologists haven't discovered any artifacts or evidence of settlements that the humans who made those footprints should have left behind. Jennifer is a senior writer at Ars Technica with a particular focus on where science meets culture, covering everything from physics and related interdisciplinary topics to her favorite films and TV series.

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