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Data release for Evidence of humans in North America during the Last Glacial Maximum

Archaeologists and researchers in allied fields have long sought to understand human colonization of North America. When, how, and from where did people migrate, and what were the consequences of their arrival for the established fauna and landscape are enduring questions. Here, we present evidence from excavated surfaces of in situ human footprints from White Sands National Park (New Mexico, USA), where multiple human footprints are stratigraphically constrained and bracketed by seed layers that yield calibrated 14C ages between ~23 and 21 ka. These findings confirm the presence of humans in North America during the Last Glacial Maximum, adding evidence to the antiquity of human colonization of the Americas and providing a temporal range extension for the coexistence of early inhabitants and Pleistocene megafauna.

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Author(s) Matthew R. Bennett, David Bustos, Thomas M. Urban, Vance T. Holliday, Sally C. Reynolds, Marcin Budka, Brendan Fenerty, Clare Connelly, Patrick J. Martinez, Vincent L. Santucci, Daniel Odess
Publication Date 2021-09-23
Beginning Date of Data 2018
Ending Date of Data 2021
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DOI https://doi.org/10.5066/P9ABZEM9
Citation Bennett, M.R., Bustos, D., Urban, T.M., Holliday, V.T., Reynolds, S.C., Budka, M., Fenerty, B., Connelly, C., Martinez, P.J., Santucci, V.L., and Odess, D., 2021, Data release for Evidence of humans in North America during the Last Glacial Maximum: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9ABZEM9.
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Metadata Date 2024-07-10
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License http://www.usa.gov/publicdomain/label/1.0/
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Harvest Source: ScienceBase
Harvest Date: 2024-07-18T13:40:47.875Z