Tag

Footprints

All articles tagged with #footprints

23,000-Year-Old Footprints Rewrite North America's Arrival Timeline
science7 days ago

23,000-Year-Old Footprints Rewrite North America's Arrival Timeline

Footprints at White Sands National Park in New Mexico have been calibrated to about 23,000 years old, placing humans in North America roughly 10,000 years earlier than previously thought. Radiocarbon dating tied to pine pollen and ditch grasses, with optical luminescence supporting the age, corroborates the finding. The footprints depict activities from play to hunting, including a woman carrying a child, and researchers hope to uncover more to broaden the North American archaeological record.

Ancient footprints push back North America's peopling to the Ice Age
science10 days ago

Ancient footprints push back North America's peopling to the Ice Age

Archaeologists at White Sands, New Mexico, have dated footprints to about 20,700–22,400 years ago (during the Last Glacial Maximum), strengthening the case that humans reached North America well before the Clovis-first model. Radiocarbon dating of seeds, pollen, and the mud found with the prints across three labs all converge on the same timeline, prompting a reevaluation of migration routes and lifeways, though the absence of durable artifacts remains a puzzle. The study was published in Science Advances.

DinoTracker AI Maps Ancient Footprints from Unlabeled Imprints
science1 month ago

DinoTracker AI Maps Ancient Footprints from Unlabeled Imprints

Researchers released DinoTracker, a free app that uses unsupervised AI to compare dinosaur footprint silhouettes without relying on pre-labeled data. By analyzing eight footprint features across 2,000 unlabeled casts, the system groups prints in line with expert classifications about 90% of the time, helping palaeontologists test ideas about which animals made which prints. Notably, some Triassic–Jurassic tracks appear birdlike, suggesting birds may have deeper roots than previously thought, though the team cautions that substrate, foot motion, and other context must still be considered by experts.

Gigantic Kimberley Footprints Reframe Early Cretaceous Dinosaurs
science1 month ago

Gigantic Kimberley Footprints Reframe Early Cretaceous Dinosaurs

Researchers in Western Australia’s Dampier Peninsula uncovered the largest dinosaur footprints on record, including sauropod tracks up to about 1.75 meters long, from a 130‑million‑year‑old intertidal reef system. The 25‑kilometer study zone yielded about 150 tracks across 21 morphotypes, including new ichnotaxa and the first definitive stegosaur traces in Australia, indicating Late Jurassic lineages persisted into the Early Cretaceous in Gondwana. Indigenous custodians helped block a LNG project, underscoring heritage protection and ongoing stewardship concerns.

Ancient Moroccan Footprints Reveal a Multigenerational Homo sapiens Trek
science1 month ago

Ancient Moroccan Footprints Reveal a Multigenerational Homo sapiens Trek

Researchers report 85 fossilized footprints on a northern Moroccan beach dating to about 90,000 years ago, likely left by at least five individuals in a multigenerational group. Preserved by clay-rich sand and rapid tidal burial, the tracks represent North Africa’s oldest known human trackway, but the site faces erosion risk and urgent documentation before it degrades.

Neanderthal Footprints Discovered on Portugal’s Coast Challenge Human Origins
science3 months ago

Neanderthal Footprints Discovered on Portugal’s Coast Challenge Human Origins

New discoveries along Portugal's Algarve coast have revealed the first fossilized Neanderthal footprints in the region, dating back around 78,000 to 82,000 years. These footprints provide direct evidence of Neanderthal behavior, movement, and social structure, indicating they explored coastal environments and had a diverse diet including deer, horses, and marine resources. This challenges previous ideas about Neanderthal ecology and highlights their adaptability to coastal habitats.

1.5-Million-Year-Old Footprints Reveal Hominin Coexistence in Kenya
science1 year ago

1.5-Million-Year-Old Footprints Reveal Hominin Coexistence in Kenya

Researchers have discovered 1.5-million-year-old footprints in Kenya, providing evidence that two hominin species, Homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei, coexisted and possibly interacted. This finding, published in Science, offers new insights into human evolution, revealing how these species shared habitats and faced environmental challenges. The footprints, found near Lake Turkana, are significant as they are "trace fossils," offering direct evidence of behavior and coexistence, unlike body fossils which can be displaced.

"Brazilian Footprints Reveal New Dinosaur Species Unearthed by Scientists"
paleontology2 years ago

"Brazilian Footprints Reveal New Dinosaur Species Unearthed by Scientists"

Scientists have identified a new dinosaur species, named Farlowichnus rapidus, based on footprints found in Brazil. The footprints, discovered in the 1980s, belonged to a small, agile carnivorous dinosaur that lived approximately 125 million years ago. The unique characteristics of the footprints, including long, slender toes and a wide stride, suggest that this dinosaur was adapted to desert environments. The discovery highlights the importance of studying fossil trackways to gain insights into the diversity and behavior of ancient dinosaurs.

"Discovery of New Dinosaur Species in Brazil through Footprint Analysis"
paleontology2 years ago

"Discovery of New Dinosaur Species in Brazil through Footprint Analysis"

Scientists in Brazil have identified a new species of dinosaur called Farlowichnus rapidus, based on fossilized footprints found in the city of Araraquara. The small carnivorous dinosaur lived during the early Cretaceous period and was about 2-3 feet tall. The footprints indicate that it was a fast reptile that ran across ancient dunes. The discovery is significant as the footprints are different from all other known dinosaur footprints.