Archaeologists recently stumbled upon a set of mysterious ‘ghost footprints’ in the salt flats of the Utah desert. These extraordinary ancient tracks get their terrifying name not because they are from a celestial realm, but because of their terrestrial texture: they appear only after rain, and the footprints become saturated with moisture and color.
I get darker, disappear again after drying. in the sun. Researchers accidentally discovered the unusual impressions in early July when they visited another nearby archaeological site at Hill Air Force Base in Utah’s Great Salt Lake Desert.
The team initially found only a handful of footprints, but a thorough sweep of the surrounding area using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) revealed at least 88 individual footprints belonging to adults and is from a range of children, possibly as young as 5 years old.
(The GPR technique works by firing radio waves into the ground that bounce off objects hidden beneath the surface.) At least 10,000 years ago when the area was still a vast area.
However, researchers suspect that the tracks may date back 12,000 years, during the last part of the last ice age during the Pleistocene epoch (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago).
Anya Kitterman, manager of cultural resources at Hill Air Force Base, who oversaw the archaeological work, said in a statement that the discovery of such ancient footprints was a “once in a blue moon revelation.” “We got much beyond anything we expected.”
However, the discovery has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal because the researchers are still analyzing the footprints.
RELATED: 100,000-Year-Old Neanderthal Footprints Show Children Playing in Sand The Great Salt Lake Desert was once covered by a large, salty lake similar to the nearby Great Salt Lake – the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere – for which the desert is named.
Changes in Earth’s climate beginning at the end of the last ice age caused the ancient lake to slowly dry up, leaving behind salts that would once have dissolved in the water.
But during the transition from lake to dry salt flats, the area was briefly a large wetland occupied by humans until 10,000 years ago, according to the statement.
During that time, conditions would have been perfect for making ghostly footprints, the researchers said. It looks like people are walking in shallow water, with the sand quickly filling their footprint behind them, like you might experience on a beach,” lead researcher Darron Duke, an archaeologist at the Far Western Anthropological Research Group.
which is a private firm, Cultural Resources Management said in a statement. “But underneath the sand was a layer of clay that retained the print after filling.”
Duke added that the footprints have since become filled with salt as wetlands dry out, making them indistinguishable from the surrounding landscape when they dry out.
Normally, when it rains, the water is quickly absorbed deep into the surrounding sediments, which means the land quickly returns to its normal color.
But when rain falls on top of the hidden muddy footprints, the water is trapped, creating dark and wet sediment patches that stand out from their surroundings.
Less than a mile (1.6 km) from where the tracks were uncovered, a previous research group discovered a 12,000-year-old hunting camp, where the humans who left the prints may have lived.
Archaeological finds at the site include an ancient fireplace, stone tools used for cooking, a pile of over 2,000 animal bones, and burnt tobacco seeds, the earliest evidence of human tobacco use. are Researchers involved in the new find collected some of the footprints to determine their exact age.
By using radiocarbon dating, researchers hope to be able to analyze tiny pieces of organic material that could have been trapped in the sediment by the footprints of whoever left the prints, according to the statement. The region is a hotspot for ancient human trackways.
In September 2021, a study revealed that 60 human footprints in New Mexico’s White Sands National Park date back 21,000 to 23,000 years, making them the oldest “unequivocal evidence” of humans in the Americas. These impressions were additionally found utilizing GPR.
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“We’ve been wondering for a long time whether other sites like White Sands exist and whether GPR would be useful for mapping traces at other locations,” said Cornell University archaeologist Thomas Urban, who used the site at White Sands.
The GPR survey technique developed and recently released by Hull Air Force Base said in a statement. “The answer to both questions is yes.”
The researchers say that these types of finds are important because they are direct evidence of human settlement in the area and are much more visual than other nearby archaeological finds.
“There’s a prompt human association with seeing human impressions,” Duke said. “Seeing them from the distant past, especially so different from what they look like today, can be impactful.”
