Oldest Human Footprints in the Southwest Discovered in Arizona

More reminiscences from the past have shown up in a recent construction site in Tuscon, Arizona.

A day’s work in an Arizona corn field some 2,500 years ago has been frozen in time, thanks to the footprints of some ancient farmers, their children, and even their dogs, which have been found perfectly preserved at a construction site just north of Tucson.

The prints number in the dozens and depict the movements of several adults and at least one child, as they tended to their neatly arranged crops and the small irrigation ditches that watered them.

Discovered in November by archaeologists investigating a parcel of land near Interstate 10, the prints are likely the oldest human tracks yet found in the American Southwest.

What I find incredibly interesting about this find is the detail that the prints have been left in:

The barefoot tracks are distinct enough that the movements of specific individuals can be followed across the 15-square-meter field that’s been uncovered, Arnit said.

In one case, a set of deep, large prints shows that a heavy adult male trod diagonally across the field, stopped to do some work on an earthen berm, or perhaps to open a weir to let in water, and then took a different path across the field and over the ditch.

Another set of prints seems to have been made by an infant or toddler. And one print has a dog print inside it, likely made by a farmer being followed by his or her canine companion.

The tracks were preserved in such pristine condition because of a sudden flood from a nearby creek, archaeologists said.

The creek overran its banks soon after the prints were made, covering them in its uniquely mica-rich sandy sediment, forming a kind of mineralized cast.

Source

The research goes on to say: “We don’t have a firm date, but during phase one [of the excavations], we ran a number of radiocarbon samples, and it’s at about that level … from 2,500 to 3,000 years old,”

Whenever a find like this comes up, spanning such a large area, it makes me wonder just how much history we may have wherever your sitting right now.

I have seen a giant footprint in Africa that looks more legitimate than that but it's not real so I am told

I call fake footprints, bit like ufos, made to look real but it isn't

Probably photoshop or carved or recent

Fake

a reply to: Ghost147

Looks real to me, awesome stuff, thanks for bringing it.

For now, the first order of business is to preserve at least some of the ancient prints, since the site will soon be paved.

“We’re doing everything we can to document the footprints, because they are smack-dab in the middle of the road,

Nothing like coming across some evidence of people long gone. It gives you this chill…

Not quite as old as the tracks from Texas....but significant in their own right.....
I wonder if any crop remnants exist? At least a kernel of corn or some such......perhaps a leaf print or what have you......
Are they putting up a fast food joint on top of it?

originally posted by: bandersnatch
Not quite as old as the tracks from Texas....but significant in their own right.....
I wonder if any crop remnants exist? At least a kernel of corn or some such......perhaps a leaf print or what have you......
Are they putting up a fast food joint on top of it?

The article says a road. They 'carbon date' these things by sampling vegetable matter in the print, directly under the foot at the time the print was made. They say they want to check the pollen grains found there to see what crops they grew.

This is a site for stuff found in my area on the west coast. Plane wrecks and such in there, but the beginning is pictures of a Native grinding site. I've been there, its eerie.

Impressions

originally posted by: Raggedyman
I have seen a giant footprint in Africa that looks more legitimate than that but it's not real so I am told

I call fake footprints, bit like ufos, made to look real but it isn't

Probably photoshop or carved or recent

Fake

If there was one single print, and nothing else to go on, then I would agree that it would probably be fake.

However, if you read the article you'll see that:

~ the researchers can actually follow the footsteps of these individuals as if they had just occurred, and these steps directly match the wieght, size and distance we would find in a human's tracks
~There are lines of plants, not sporadically grown, but in lines, with a specific distance apart, with a clear cut view of a crop. This is clear evidence of farmed land
~ there are a dogs footprints, also the same size and distance we would expect of a dog, and also the behavioral traits that we see in dogs today
~ we can see a pattern in all footprints, and all of them are identical within their grouping, allowing us to determine just who was there, and roughly the age and weight these people were
~ we can see a nearby water source, with the necessary minerals within it are known to 'fossilize' footprints, and we can see that the farming area is within a flood zone of this water source.l

If you can discount all these clear features, I would love to hear your argument.

a reply to: Ghost147

I read about this in National Geographic Special Bonus Magazine for 2015 which only came out a few days after Christmas to our local area.
It has this in it as one of their 2015 top finds.
Of course much more detailed.
I think it is a fascinating find.
S&F


I think I can find it.
If can, I will TRY to scan & put in some kind of links if I can't find it online.
I originally wanted to be an Archaeologist/Paleontologist/Cryptozoologist/etc, combo of all but was talked out of it by Guidance Counselors & took Medical, Civil Engineering, + degrees in a bunch of offshoots, not doing what I had truly wanted to do b/c of the Guidance Counselor's, all of them,& their extreme ignorance in stating, " Almost every find the world makes will be already found so what and where would you work?"
Duh! I had Horticulture, complete Biology degrees, etc, set up to do what I had wanted but my parents said to listen to the Guidance Counselors. Whom only require 1 year training, yet most are so Ignorant, they took 2 to 3 years to pass & I know one woman who took 9 years to finally pass the course.
Yet part of our Med training? We finished the whole course in 2 months of what was suppose to be our summer vacation lol!
All were so rude and Ignorant to this matter, just as I see at least one reply that the person/s could have been those Guidance Counselors.
So please do not let those comments get to you . lol!
Thankfully, I did not let them deter me from the 2nd true calling I wanted & secretly took courses and University exams, hands on. So when I was diagnosed with MS, I turned to what I do now.
I can live with that, happier as I get to at least research and write such articles & textbooks. lol!

I guess that's old.

Doesn't seem to be any big deal, i was expecting something like 20-30k yo.

The Clovis were around 12-13k ya or so.

Anyway, I'm glad it made someone's day. Truely.