XPost: talk.politics.misc, alt.science, alt.politics.usa

https://scitechdaily.com/massive-implications-new-evidence-calls-into-question-timing-of-human-arrival-in-north-america/

A new study calls into question the age of the preserved
human footprints found in New Mexico’s Lake Otero Basin,
which have the potential to revolutionize our understanding
of the arrival of humans in North America if accurately dated.

An ancient lakebed in New Mexico contains well-preserved
footprints from various animals that lived there thousands
of years ago, including giant sloths and mammoths, as well
as humans. Previously, research published in September 2021
suggested that these human footprints offered “definitive
evidence” of human occupation of North America during the
last ice age, dating back to between 23 and 21 thousand
years ago. However, a new study has cast doubt on this claim.

A group of scientists has recently published a study in
the journal Quaternary Research cautioning that the dating
evidence for ancient human footprints found in a lakebed
in New Mexico is not strong enough to support claims that
would significantly alter our understanding

. . .

20 or 23 ? Other than the "It'd be nice to know" factor
it's really not that important. Seems likely there
were at least small groups arriving even earlier
than that - but *evidence* is iffy at best - nature
erased most of that. Not like the very first arrivals
put up a big stainless-steel monument with "We Were
The First" written upon it.

But the Americas ... looks to have been numerous waves
of arrivals over a rather long period. Glaciation may
have helped decide which direction they went from there.
The oldest groups seem to have stuck to the west coast
and proceeded directly all the way down into S.America,
bypassing frigid N.America almost entirely.

The distinctive Clovis pattern bladework in the eastern
US is even quite reminiscent of that in southern France.
Genetic studies of isolated groups in the southern Amazon
show polynesian input - likely 5-10k years ago. Those
Olmec "heads" have clearly central African features no
matter what the race-supremacists prefer to believe.

In short, the Americans are large and were "there", so
various wanderers found themselves here by intent or by
accident. Being so long ago and so diverse means nobody
today can make firm 'ancestral claims' on the continents ;
it falls to those who've been there the longest and
formed a sort of blended culture.

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