This past November , archaeologist uncovered XII of human footprint uphold in the ground of a construction website north of Tucson , Arizona . Radiocarbon dating indicates they were leave between 2500 and 3000 old age ago , making them the oldest human tracks notice in the American Southwest .
The discovery was made while archaeologists were inspecting the site of an coming road construction project near Interstate 10 . Not only were the prints perfectly preserved , but they also clearly depict the stage dancing of casual sprightliness for some of the region ’s earliest farmers . “ One of the things in archaeology that we always care for is a time machine — to go back in prison term and see what people really did , ” Dan Arnit , the archeologist creditworthy for the discovery , toldWestern Digs . “ Well , I think I found a clock time machine . Because the only thing that ’s pretermit here is the person stand in the steps . ”
A small irrigation ditch and imprint that might have held plants were also discovered in the 161 - straight - foot field . The track were made by a few adult and at least one child , probably as they tended to their harvest . A mark from a dog , likely the fellow traveller of one of the Farmer , was also found inside a human print . Experts say the field itself looks to date to sometime in the Early Agricultural Period , between 2500 BCE and 50 CE , when farms first began appearing in the American Southwest .
archeologist assign the print ' impressive condition to a sudden flood from a nearby creek . Soon after the tracks were left , the bubble over creek covered them in a mica - racy sandy deposit that would keep them preserved for millennium to follow . Researchers are currently work to salvage some of the prints and document the eternal sleep as well they can , as the site will before long be paved over .
[ h / t : Western Digs ]
