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Data release for Independent age estimates resolve the controversy of ancient human footprints at White Sands

Human footprints at White Sands National Park, New Mexico, USA, reportedly date to between ~23,000 and 21,000 years ago according to radiocarbon dating of seeds from the aquatic plant Ruppia cirrhosa. These ages remain controversial because of potential old carbon reservoir effects that could compromise their accuracy. We present new calibrated 14C ages of terrestrial pollen collected from the same stratigraphic horizons as those of the Ruppia seeds, along with optically stimulated luminescence ages of sediments from within the human footprint–bearing sequence, to evaluate the veracity of the seed ages. The results show that the chronologic framework originally established for the White Sands footprints is robust and reaffirm that humans were present in North America during the Last Glacial Maximum.

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Author(s) Jeffrey S Pigati, Kathleen B Springer orcid, Jeff Honke orcid, David E Wahl, Marie R Champagne orcid, Susan R Zimmerman, Harrison J Gray orcid, Vincent L. Santucci, Daniel Odess, David Bustos, Matthew R Bennett
Publication Date 2023-10-05
Beginning Date of Data 2019
Ending Date of Data 2023
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DOI https://doi.org/10.5066/P9E36U4B
Citation Pigati, J.S., Springer, K.B., Honke, J., Wahl, D.E., Champagne, M.R., Zimmerman, S.R., Gray, H.J., Santucci, V.L., Odess, D., Bustos, D., and Bennett, M.R., 2023, Data release for Independent age estimates resolve the controversy of ancient human footprints at White Sands: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9E36U4B.
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Metadata Date 2023-10-05
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License http://www.usa.gov/publicdomain/label/1.0/
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Harvest Source: ScienceBase
Harvest Date: 2024-04-30T15:20:04.473Z