VALDIVIA, CHILE—A team of researchers led by paleontologist Karen Moreno and geologist Mario Pino of Austral University has found an ancient human footprint at the Pilauco archaeological site in northern Patagonia, according to a Live Science report. The fossils of elephant relatives, llama relatives, and ancient horses, as well as rocks that may have been used as tools have also been uncovered at the site. The scientists experimented with different sediments and walkers of varying sizes, and concluded the footprint could have been made by a barefoot modern human adult who weighed about 155 pounds and was walking in wet and sticky soil. Some of the dirt clung to the person’s toes at first, and then dropped into the print when the foot was lifted, they said. Radiocarbon dates for organic materials found in the same layer as the footprint suggest it was left 15,600 years ago. To read more about people living in the New World during this period, go to "Early Americans."
