January 30, 2016

2,500 Years Old Footprints Found in Tucson

Archaeologists have found footprints of a family of farmers embedded in the soil at a site in Tucson dating to 500 BCE, making these the oldest footprints ever found in the Southwest. A flash flood at the time had covered these prints over, preserving them. The farmers were ancestors of the Hohokam culture who built elaborate irrigation canals. The Hohokam grew cotton, tobacco, maize, beans and squash. The footprints show adults, children and a family pet walking across their fields. They are making 3D scanning videos of the prints and casts of the footprints before they are covered over to build a highway. The site also shows evidence of irrigation canals and earthworks. The prints show the farmers moving from canal gate to canal gate and building mud dams to divert rain and river water to maize plants. Archaeologists will now study the soil nearby for futher evidence of these early farmers.

(My note; Footprints dated at more than 13,000 years ago have been found on an island off of British Columbia, and Tom Dillehay found human footprints at the site of Monte Verde in Chile that date to 1000 years before Clovis times. These are the first Pre-Clovis footprints found so far. The dates for these prints have been validated by all other researchers who have come to the site to verify the find.)

Daily Mail has the report here with many videos, 3D Scans and great photos;
http://dailym.ai/1ZV2lIE

Mike Ruggeri’s Ancient Southwest/Mound Builders News Magazine
http://bit.ly/16PP9jH