LONDON, July 5 (UPI) -- A team of Mexican archaeologists has found what could be the prints of humans fleeing from a volcanic eruption 40,000 years ago.
But an article in Nature says the prints are still dubious evidence of early human arrival in the Americas. The prints have not been determined to be human and they are in a heavily trafficked area where their appearance could be the result of modern interference.
"I believe they are footprints," said geoarchaeologist Silvia Gonzalez of Liverpool John Moores University in Britain. "But we are being cautious, as we need to do more work."
Currently, most scientists believe that the first human migration from Asia took place 10,000 to 15,000 years ago, and the oldest archaeological remains, in Chile, appear to be about 14,500 years old.
The archaeologists found the possible footprints in an ash field as they hiked between two archaeological sites. In addition to the possible human prints, they found the tracks of birds, dogs, cats and other animals, suggesting flight from an eruption.
Gonzalez reported the find at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition in London.
