Stroncement preserved in the sands of New Mexico, archaeologists have discovered the oldest proof to date of a vehicle used by humans: trail marks, as well as footprints, left in the ground which was dated 22,000 years ago.
As detailed in a Study published in the journal Advances in quaternary scienceThese brands were left by a type of sleigh known as the travois. Consider it as a wheelbarrow without the wheels.
Generally comprising two wooden posts maintained in each hand at the front and crossing back in the back in the shape of a V or X, a travois would have been drawn on the ground, carrying meat, game or other supplies. Their use is well known to scientists – but it is by far the oldest example, prior to the invention of the vehicle with wheels in Mesopotamia of around 17,000 years, according to researchers.
“There is nothing old”, the study author Matthew Bennett at the University of Bournemouth said New scientist.
The ancient runners, as the authors describe it, were discovered in the dried mud of a revolted lake in the white Sands National Park with New Mexico, hidden by sediments for incalculable ages, and finally exhumed by a fortuitous mixture of natural erosion and meticulous excavation by researchers.
“The trail marks extend over tens of meters before disappearing under the overlying sediments,” said Bennet in a write The conversation. “They cut the human tracks barefoot over their length, suggesting that the user has dragged the travois on his own footprints as and when.”
They have rarely been found in isolation, researchers discovering other tracks of fingerprints near everyone in the same direction. In many cases, depending on their size, the impressions were left by the children.
“We believe that the fingerprints and the trail marks tell a story of the movement of resources on the edge of this old wetland,” said Bennett written in The conversation. “The adults pulled the simple travois, probably improvised, while a group of children scored on the side and behind.”
HAS New scientist, Bennet added that even if the travois were often pulled by animals like horses in other cultures, the discovery of white sands indicated only human use. It is possible that some of the brands were left by dragging firewood, “but that does not correspond to all the cases we have found,” wrote Bennett her Conversation essay.
But perhaps the most amazing involvement of discovery is that humans may have crossed the Americas much earlier than commonly raw, with The dominant theories – which are increasingly disputed – holding that no one was doing the trek until about 15,000 years ago.
“The people of the debate on the Americas are very controversial, but we are quite confident on the dates,” said Bennettt New scientist. “Traditional history is that the ice caps separated and they came, but you can pass before the door closes too.”
More on ancient humans: Scientists say that skeletons show ancient humans with huge heads