Dan Flores

But unlike 19th century mastodon finds in the East, this time the skeletons were intermixed with large, 5 to 6 inch long projectile points and tools of an unknown and apparently even more ancient population than the Folsom people. We now know that even these elephant hunters were not the first.

But unlike 19th century mastodon finds in the East, this time the skeletons were intermixed with large, 5 to 6 inch long projectile points and tools of an unknown and apparently even more ancient population than the Folsom people. We now know that even these elephant hunters were not the first.

But unlike 19th century mastodon finds in the East, this time the skeletons were intermixed with large, 5 to 6 inch long projectile points and tools of an unknown and apparently even more ancient population than the Folsom people. We now know that even these elephant hunters were not the first.

What has very recently produced certain evidence for even more ancient arrivals in America, likely in boats following shorelines out of Asia, are human footprints. To be precise, 61 footprints, left primarily by children or adolescents in the soft mud of a lakeshore some 23,000 years before the area became New Mexico's White Sands National Park.

What has very recently produced certain evidence for even more ancient arrivals in America, likely in boats following shorelines out of Asia, are human footprints. To be precise, 61 footprints, left primarily by children or adolescents in the soft mud of a lakeshore some 23,000 years before the area became New Mexico's White Sands National Park.

What has very recently produced certain evidence for even more ancient arrivals in America, likely in boats following shorelines out of Asia, are human footprints. To be precise, 61 footprints, left primarily by children or adolescents in the soft mud of a lakeshore some 23,000 years before the area became New Mexico's White Sands National Park.

That blockbuster find by a park employee in 2019 ultimately drew a team of researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey to date the seeds of a species of grass crushed by the footprints. Their dating indicates a time frame at the height of the glacial maximum when it would have been impossible to come overland to America. The human footprints aren't the only tracks researchers are finding.

That blockbuster find by a park employee in 2019 ultimately drew a team of researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey to date the seeds of a species of grass crushed by the footprints. Their dating indicates a time frame at the height of the glacial maximum when it would have been impossible to come overland to America. The human footprints aren't the only tracks researchers are finding.

That blockbuster find by a park employee in 2019 ultimately drew a team of researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey to date the seeds of a species of grass crushed by the footprints. Their dating indicates a time frame at the height of the glacial maximum when it would have been impossible to come overland to America. The human footprints aren't the only tracks researchers are finding.

There are also mammoth tracks and prints of dire wolves and giant ground sloths. In one fascinating interaction, the tracks appear to show that a young woman carrying a child on her hip, who she occasionally put down, walked a stretch of lake shore and returned by the same path which in the interval both a mammoth and a ground sloth crossed.

There are also mammoth tracks and prints of dire wolves and giant ground sloths. In one fascinating interaction, the tracks appear to show that a young woman carrying a child on her hip, who she occasionally put down, walked a stretch of lake shore and returned by the same path which in the interval both a mammoth and a ground sloth crossed.

There are also mammoth tracks and prints of dire wolves and giant ground sloths. In one fascinating interaction, the tracks appear to show that a young woman carrying a child on her hip, who she occasionally put down, walked a stretch of lake shore and returned by the same path which in the interval both a mammoth and a ground sloth crossed.

The mammoth paid no obvious attention, but the sloth reacted, rearing on its hind legs in what may have been alarm. So far as we now know, only a scant few intrepid souls came to America this early. They remind me of Viking visitors to America a thousand years ago. Their numbers must have been small, with much of America still empty of humans.

The mammoth paid no obvious attention, but the sloth reacted, rearing on its hind legs in what may have been alarm. So far as we now know, only a scant few intrepid souls came to America this early. They remind me of Viking visitors to America a thousand years ago. Their numbers must have been small, with much of America still empty of humans.

The mammoth paid no obvious attention, but the sloth reacted, rearing on its hind legs in what may have been alarm. So far as we now know, only a scant few intrepid souls came to America this early. They remind me of Viking visitors to America a thousand years ago. Their numbers must have been small, with much of America still empty of humans.

So 10,000 years later, the elephant hunters we now call Clovis made up the first human culture to spread across all the Americas, an overland arrival that became a rapidly advancing wave 13,000 years ago. The rapidity of their spread suggesting that they encountered few, if any, other human cultures along the way.

So 10,000 years later, the elephant hunters we now call Clovis made up the first human culture to spread across all the Americas, an overland arrival that became a rapidly advancing wave 13,000 years ago. The rapidity of their spread suggesting that they encountered few, if any, other human cultures along the way.

So 10,000 years later, the elephant hunters we now call Clovis made up the first human culture to spread across all the Americas, an overland arrival that became a rapidly advancing wave 13,000 years ago. The rapidity of their spread suggesting that they encountered few, if any, other human cultures along the way.

Clovis people occupied every American state from Alaska to Florida for more than three centuries. Until a mature United States spread coast to coast, in fact, Clovis stood as the sole human culture that once draped across our entire country. So for three centuries, a very long time ago, America was Clovisia the Beautiful. We are still struggling to understand them.

Clovis people occupied every American state from Alaska to Florida for more than three centuries. Until a mature United States spread coast to coast, in fact, Clovis stood as the sole human culture that once draped across our entire country. So for three centuries, a very long time ago, America was Clovisia the Beautiful. We are still struggling to understand them.