One Step at a Time- Preliminary Evidence for Human and Mega Fauna Trackways Located Along the Ancient Shorelines of Lake Lucero, White Sands Missile Range.

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In 2006, human trackways were discovered at White Sands National Park along with the trackways of giant Sloth, Dire Wolf, Camel, and Columbian Mammoth. Upon the mapping and excavation of these prints in 2018, small preserved ancient grass seeds (Ruppia cirrhosa) were revealed that provided calibrated dates of 22,860 (∓320) and 21,130 (∓250) years ago (Bennett 2021). Considering this unique discovery, and its proximity to portions of White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) the cultural resource team at WSMR has embarked on a unique project to conduct a large scale (16 sq km), aerial drone mapping project to identify additional human prints. This study will utilize numerous new digital technologies in coordination with targeted pedestrian survey to map large areas of the ancient shoreline of Lake Lucero. The expectation based on preliminary observations (several human trackway locations have already been identified) is that hundreds of human and megafauna trackways will be located. The implications for future research on these exciting new discoveries could provide interesting new perspectives on the peopling of the North American continent.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38216.0