Footprints of 13,000-year-old people are found off Canada's Pacific coast

Traces of ancient people outside Canada's Pacific coast may have been 13,000 years old, according to a study published March 28, 2018 on Duncan's McLosen and colleagues from the Hakai Institute and University. Victoria, Canada.

Previous research has shown that, during the last ice age (which ended about 11,700 years ago), people moved from Asia to Europe and then to North America, eventually reaching the west coast of British Columbia. , Canada as well as the southern coastal regions. Along Canada's Pacific coast, much of this coastline is covered by dense forests and can only be reached by boat, making it difficult to find archaeological evidence to support this hypothesis. .

In this study, the team unearthed the coastal mudflats of Calvert Island, British Columbia, where sea levels are two to three meters lower today than at the end of the last ice age.

The researchers discovered 29 human footprints of at least three different sizes in these sediments, estimated at 13,000 years through radocarbon analysis. Digital photographic measurements and analysis show that footprints probably belong to two adults and one child, all walking barefoot. The findings suggest that humans were present on British Columbia's west coast about 13,000 years ago.

This finding adds more evidence to support the hypothesis that humans have used a coastal road to move from Asia to North America in the last ice age. The authors argue that further excavations with more advanced methods may discover many human footprints in the area and will help incorporate early human settlement patterns on the North Coast. America.