At least 88 human footprint believed to date to more than 12,000 years ago have been get word on the grounds of a Utah military base . If confirm , the discovery would be only the second such discovery of footprints in the US .
The footprints were lately discovered by archaeologists carry out an archeologic sketch at the Utah Test and Training Range in Utah ’s West Desert .
Though now a barren plain of dusty desert land , this area is retrieve to have once been an haven that do as a bountiful stomping ground for other settlers of America . At the site , the team also unearthed grounds of an opened flaming pit , dating to about 12,300 long time ago , obtain alongside burnt bird bones , wood coal , missile point , and I. F. Stone puppet – all sure signs of human activeness .
Daron Duke, Far Western Anthropological Research Group, shows visitors the footprints discovered on an archaeological site on the Utah Test and Training Range, 27 February 2025. Image credit: US Air Force photo/R. Nial Bradshaw
The centerpiece of the labor , however , is doubtlessly the heaps of tiny footprint found embed in the earth .
“ base on excavations of several print , we ’ve found evidence of adult with children from about 5 to 12 geezerhood of age that were leaving bare footprint , ” Dr Daron Duke , Principal Investigator of the Far Western Anthropological Research Group , said in astatement .
“ People appear to have been walking in shallow water , the sand rapidly infilling their print behind them – much as you might experience on a beach – but under the sand was a layer of mud that kept the mark entire after infilling . ”
The story of how and when people first arrived in the Americas is still heatedly fence . It was long take that the early inhabitants in the Americas were a group know as the " Clovis I culture ” who decide in the continent around 15,000 to 13,000 years ago .
More late discoveries have pushed this timescale back , with estimates for the arrival of the first occupant ramble from25,000 years agoto37,000 year ago .
“ Our long - condition work on the geochronology of this area suggest these photographic print are in all probability more than 12,000 years old , ” Duke said .
The newly discover footprint in Utah do n’t switch much about what we know about America ’s first inhabitant , but they ’re still reasonably outstanding given their age and location . The only other Pleistocene - age human footprint found in the US were recently unearthed at White Sands National Park in New Mexico . These step , which also appear to have been tread down by kids and teenagers , go steady back to awhopping 21,000 and 23,000 eld old .
Back in Utah , the archaeologists are now looking to investigate the footprints , work with local Native American groups to acquire further insight into the significance of the discovery .
“ We have also gather the infill of the prints to see if we can find constituent material to radiocarbon appointment , ” Duke explained . “ We require to further detail the prints themselves as to who consist the group and how they were using the domain . We are also speak to aboriginal American tribe about their perspectives on the prints . ”
