Peopling of the Tularosa Playa during the Last Glacial Maximum

离开或找到一个足迹，与过去和过去的行为有直接联系，这是一种非常情绪化的东西。新墨西哥州的白沙国家公园是一个干涸的湖床，上面有数千个人类留下的脚印和已经灭绝的冰河时代的大型动物，如猛犸象。他们讲述了冰河时代在这片干涸的湖床上生活的故事。足迹如此之广，以至于我们可以在湖床上追踪猛犸象、骆驼、巨型地面树懒和可怕的狼，并揭示它们与早期人类猎人的互动。与其他网站不同的是，它们提供了一扇独特的窗口，可以看到过去。对于ICHNO来说，这是一个真正令人惊叹的地方--考古学，或者换句话说，轨道化石的研究，一门被称为遗迹学的学科。2021年9月，我们在一个地方成功地测定了这些足迹的年代，这个年代让我们感到惊讶，并挑战了关于美洲人的传统观念。它们可以追溯到冰川周期的高峰期，当时冰盖形成了横跨北美的难以穿透的东西屏障，被称为最后一次冰川最大时期。传统的模特们被困在阿拉斯加，他们从亚洲走过来，等待冰盖屏障融化，然后向南迁徙。我们的工作改变了这一点，在21000至23000年前的2000多年前，人们在冰盖屏障以南的白沙证实了这一点。显然，他们肯定是在冰障之前到达的，但比冰障早了多少？这些人在新墨西哥州做什么？他们是怎么活下来的？他们的生活方式是什么？白沙的足迹可以回答这些问题；我们已经写下了标题，但现在需要挖掘我们可以从这个遗址获得的考古信息的全部潜力。这项工作还有另一个非常重要的方面。这些足迹代表了土著人民的祖先足迹，但科学霸权削弱了他们的声音，但他们有权讲述他们的故事，并让他们的足迹叙述与考古学家的故事一起被听到。我们建议在尊重和互惠的基础上开发新的协作方式，承认和重视关于白沙足迹的多重真相。由于足迹发现正在世界各地以越来越频繁的速度发生，因此需要开发采用本土方法的方法。这项研究将培训和装备新一代ICHNO考古学家，以应对这一美丽的新发现世界，同时为围绕美洲人民长期争论的问题提供重要信息。

There is something hugely emotive about leaving or finding a footprint that provides a direct connection to the past and to past behaviour. White Sands National Park in New Mexico is a dried lake bed with literally thousands of footprints left by humans and extinct Ice Age megafauna such as mammoths. They tell of story of life on this dried lakebed (playa) during the ice age. The footprints are so extensive they allow us to track mammoths, camels, giant ground sloth and dire wolves across the lake bed and reveal their interaction with early human hunters. Like no other site they provide a unique window into the past. It is a truly amazing place for ichno-archaeology or put another way the study of track fossils a discipline called ichnology.In September 2021 we managed to date these footprints at one locality and the age surprised us and challenges conventional wisdom about the peopling of the Americas. They date from the height of the glacial cycle, referred to as the Last Glacial Maximum when ice sheets formed an impenetrable east-west barrier across North America. Traditional models have folk penned up in Alaska having walked from Asia waiting for this ice sheet barrier to melt before migrating south. Our work changes that with people confirmed at White Sands south of the ice sheet barrier over two millennia between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago. Clearly, they must have arrived before the ice barrier, but how much before? What were these people doing in New Mexico? How did they survive? What were their lifeways? The footprints at White Sands can answer these question; we have written the headline but now need to mine the full potential of archaeological information that we can from this site. There is another hugely important dimension to this work. These footprints represent the ancestral footfall of indigenous peoples, yet scientific hegemony emasculates their voice, yet they have a right to tell their stories and for their footprint narratives to be heard alongside those of archaeologists. We propose to develop new ways of collaborative working based on respect and reciprocity which recognises and values multiple truths about the White Sands footprints. There is a need to develop methodologies that embrace indigenous methods since footprint discoveries are occurring around the world with increasing frequency. This research will train and equip a new generation of ichno-archaeologists for this brave new world of discovery while adding vital information to long debated questions around the peopling of the Americas.