Holocene Human Footprints in North America

Abstract

Reports of human footprints from North American archaeological sites are summarized and described. Although some human footprints have been claimed to be of Pleistocene and earlier ages, the earliest authenticated prints in America north of Mexico, as distinct from Central or South America, date to the Holocene. The earliest of these prints is at least 5,070 years old, and the youngest are late prehistoric period, only about 400 years old. Footprint sites are reported in the U.S. Southeast, Southwest, and California. Activities indicated by ancient North American human footprints include the mundane, such as daily tasks in a riparian zone and domestic behaviors inside a habitation. Footprints were also left by prehistoric peoples undertaking more esoteric activities deep in cave interiors, including exploration, mineral extraction, and ritual.

Keywords:

• Prehistoric human footprints
• Native Americans
• North America

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We appreciate Martin Lockley's invitation to write this article, as well as his and an anonymous reviewer's insights and suggestions for improving the manuscript. Carol Rector read and commented on portions of the manuscript. The Mud Glyph Cave footprint photograph was provided by Charles H. Faulkner and Bill Deane; it was first published in American Antiquity (Faulkner et al., 1984, vol. 49: 355, Fig. 4); the photograph was scanned and the electronic image adjusted by Bryon Wolfe. Illustrations of the Jaguar Cave footprint photograph (courtesy of Cave Research Foundation) and maps (original drafted by Michael Voligny from Michael Fuller's field maps) were published in the Journal of Cave and Karst Studies (Willey et al., 2005, vol. 67: 62–63, Figs. 2A, 3, and 5) and are used with permission of the National Speleological Society (www.caves.org).

Notes

^aDate based on dendrochronology at noncutting perimeter of structural timber (A.D. 438).

^b Sneed (1984) erroneously reports date as A.D. 520, instead of the correct one 520 B.P. (Smithsonian Institution Laboratory SI 5705).

^c Willey et al. (2005) erroneously report these dates as 430 ± 60 and 410 ± 50, respectively, instead of the correct ones presented here.