Ancient human footprints that were initially identified as ghost tracks were left in the present-day Utah desert by an Ice Age human.
In upcoming research, Cornell researcher Thomas Urban has found human footprints on the desert of the Air Force's Utah Testing and Training Range (UTTR) that are thought to have been there dating from the last ice age's end.
When moisture conditions are ideal, "ghost tracks" can be seen when traveling to an archaeological hearth site at UTTR with Daron Duke of the Far Western Anthropological Research Group. When the conditions for moisture are right, ghost tracks briefly appear and then vanish.
Urban stopped to take a look, and as soon as he did, he recognized a familiar sight: unshod human footprints, like the ones he had looked into at White Sands National Park, where the earliest discovered human footprints that trod the Americas were found.
According to Urban, it was a genuinely fortunate discovery. Urban is a research scientist from the Cornell Tree Ring Laboratory and the College of Arts and Sciences.
Ancient Human Footprint Hunt
The following day, the team went back to the area to start documenting the prints, and Urban used ground-penetrating radar to survey one of the two visible trackways. Urban was able to find the secret quickly because he had previously improved the use of geophysical techniques, such as radar, for imaging footprints at White Sands.
Urban emphasized that the apparent ghost tracks were only a small portion of the story, just as it had been at White Sands. By using radar, they found a lot more undetectable prints.
Duke examined a portion of the prints, establishing both their barefoot status and the existence of undiscovered prints. A total of 88 footprints, including those of adults and children, were found, providing information about family life during the Pleistocene.
According to Duke, excavations of several prints revealed evidence of adults walking with kids between the ages of five and twelve who left only their bare feet behind. The sand quickly filled in the footprints left in the wake of the people, but a layer of mud beneath the sand preserved the footprints even after the sand had quickly filled them in. This was stated by him as well.
The prints in this remote area of the Great Salt Lake desert, according to Duke, are likely older than 12,000 years because there haven't been wetland conditions for the previous 10,000 years that could have produced such detailed footprint trails.
The discovery is being confirmed by additional research. The team discovered more than they expected, according to Anya Kitterman, the local Air Force Cultural Resource Manager.
Read also: Scientists Find Oldest Footprints On Earth That Date Back Up To 551 Million Years
Archeological Hearth
Duke, who had previously discovered two open-air hearths in the UTTR dating to the end of the Ice Age, had asked Urban to work on his behalf. Duke discovered the earliest signs of tobacco use by humans at one of these hearth sites. The newly discovered footprints were about a half-mile away from those hearths.
According to Urban, the site has greater significance because it answers questions about whether there are other sites similar to White Sands and whether ground-penetrating radar would be useful for imaging footprints in places other than White Sands given that it was a very unique application of the technology.
The Utah site may not be as old or extensive as White Sands, but according to Urban, there may be much more to be discovered, Phys Org reports.
Related article: 'Ghost Fossils' Show Early Human Activity in North America Before the End of Last Ice Age