A controversial Oct. 5 article in Science Magazine claims to confirm a 2021 study of human footprints in White Sands National Park in New Mexico that suggested humans were in North America about 23,000 to 21,000 years ago, and thus several thousand years earlier than archaeologists have typically believed. Among the many responses to this news, the most bizarre take from the research must surely go to Kim Pasqual-Charlie, a member of the Pueblo of Acoma.
“For many Indigenous people, the study is simply a confirmation of things they already knew from knowledge passed down over generations” reports The Washington Post. “These are our ancestral footprints,” Pasqual-Charlie explained.
It’s certainly possible that the footprints are those of local indigenous peoples’ ancient ancestors — whose else would they be, given they were fossilized in New Mexico? But her claim that the research confirms the oral history of her indigenous tribe is remarkable, apparently indicating her belief that the Pueblo have retained an oral tradition that their ancestors have been traversing the Southwest for some time earlier than the typical historical assessments, which put the number at about 16,000 years ago.
Indeed, later in the same WaPo article, she demands: “How much more evidence do you need to say: We did exist back then. We’ve been in the Southwest region for a very long time.” Pasqual-Charlie’s evidenceless assertion is as absurd as it is entirely unverifiable. But that a major U.S. newspaper would even approvingly cite it demonstrates how willingly
