Someone—maybe an adolescent, maybe someone older—rushed across the edge of Lake Otero, slipping as they walked but moving steadily ahead. Evidence suggests this person was carrying a child approximately 3 years old, setting the child down for just a moment in at least three separate places along the journey before continuing on.
Time is hard to determine, but at another point, a giant ground sloth happened to be making its way near Lake Otero as well. Its tracks indicate a decided awareness of the human—a change in behavior—where it may have lifted up on two feet to smell the air, ascertain its own safety, and determine what lay ahead, before quickly changing direction and moving away.
The same person (or perhaps a different person) walked back next to the initial trackway at some point later on, but the footprints indicate they were no longer carrying something. If the same person were returning from whence they came, perhaps the child was left behind.
These scenes are described in a remarkable paper published earlier this month in Quaternary Science Reviews, and they interpret actions taken by humans and other animals that lived in what is now New Mexico at least 10,000 years ago. Today, that area is White Sands National Park.
T9R
Article URL : https://gizmodo.com/a-human-toddler-and-a-mammoth-crossed-paths-in-ancient-1845463474