Oldest North American Footprints Point to Human Survival in Ice Age Turmoil
New research on ancient footprints preserved at White Sands in New Mexico suggests humans were present in North America about 23,000 years ago, during one of the harshest climate intervals of the Ice Age. The findings strengthen the case that early Indigenous people endured dramatic environmental instability, adding fresh urgency to debates over how climate stress shaped migration, settlement, and survival in the Americas.
