CALVERT ISLAND, BRITISH COLUMBIA—Live Science reports that archaeologists have discovered the oldest human footprints in the New World below the surface of a beach on Calvert Island, about 60 miles off the coast of British Columbia. The prints total 29 in all, and belong to two adults and a child who were walking barefoot together near the water's edge. Two pieces of wood found in association with the footprints allowed the researchers to date the trackway to between 13,300 and 13,000 years ago, or the end of the last Ice Age. The researchers note that while bears are known to make tracks similar to humans, careful analysis of the prints shows bear paws would not have been able to make them. To read about early human exploration of the New World, go to “The First Americans.”
