I appreciate you taking time to read all that and compose a well thought out reply.
I understand the challenges these people would've faced dealing with local environmental issues common to the seasons they experienced. I wish we had more examples of the tools and technologies available to them so that we could write accurate stories about how they survived and prospered or simply endured. The important thing though is that we know they dealt with all their challenges and survived. These people were resilient.
I think the large collection of footprints at White Sands tells us that it is not necessary for a viable population of humans to make the journey, only for a single small group. The fact that there are multiple levels of tracks of humans and extinct land animals together supports the conclusions one could draw from the materials used in dating of the tracks and implies that those who made the journey went on to occupy the region for generations.
It's a fascinating subject and there will be more debate over the years but I think archaeologists will come around to the notion that modern man found his way into the interior of North America a long time before or at some point during the LGM and they found a home where there was a mild climate supporting plenty of game and shelter and they took advantage of that.
That is the reality of the tracks at White Sands. Some people took an opportunity to go south and once they completed that challenge they found themselves in a land of plenty and they made themselves at home. Whether they built a boat and sailed icy seas hoping for the best, or followed local game south overland across thawing tundra during a warm spell is something we will need to study. Maybe they just picked a leader like our Dads who couldn't find his way to the grocery store without a map and would never admit to being lost
and eventually, after following this guy for months they found themselves south of the ice and the end morraines in an area with abundant game and at that point they composed their first songs and oral histories to tell the tale of their survival and rebirth in a new land of plenty.
The reason I'm talking about a viable population is that the probability of us finding a site from a single band, or even a small group rounds to zero. Dating errors are far, far more likely than that. If the footprints are correctly dated, they almost certainly indicate a low density population spread across the continent.
However that begs the question of where those people went, genetically. It's much less interesting if they aren't ancestral to modern native Americans, so I'll ignore that. If they are, there should be a fairly clear genetic evidence of the divergence, rather than the known divergence long after these footprints are dated. You can make a handwavy argument that the southern population was so small that a later migration overwhelmed their genetic contribution, but then why was their population so small, given the abundant resources? Similarly, we don't see late quaternary extinctions meaningfully start until at least the end of the LGM. There's arguments you can make to vaguely explain this, but none of them really fit with the idea we have from earlier with these people being highly adaptable, high technology hunters. We'd also expect things like charcoal (admittedly LGM records are sparse), environmental DNA (quite possibly no one has looked at the appropriate layers in the right areas with this, but the ones I've seen have not detected human presence), floral changes, etc.
These sorts of incongruities continue everywhere we try to reconcile these dates. Of course, we could ditch the narrative angle and simply say "here's a disparate collection of dates and facts", but that's not very useful as theory.
That's why I'm still on the conservative side of "we need more data", because the dates really do look good, but they're currently very hard to reconcile with what's known from independent lines of evidence.
I agree with your first paragraph and with the fact that there is a need for new lines of evidence establishing who these people were and where they ended up.
>We'd also expect things like charcoal... ...have not detected human presence), floral changes, etc.
In addition to this type of evidence perhaps they should focus on locating DNA evidence from coprolites or similar traces of the humans who left those tracks. One track-way has been described as a young female carrying a baby and occasionally setting the baby on the ground. Perhaps there is a sample of human DNA from the child somewhere along that track set.
The geological situation in New Mexico before their arrival created natural shelters for these people during the vulcanism related to opening of the Rio Grande Rift which led to formation of a number of volcanic features across the region including lava tubes which would have made excellent shelters. The tuff from eruptions is easy to dig and as you can see in Bandelier National Monument northwest of there, durable shelters capable of being utilized for generations can be dug with simple tools.
During this time period, in present-day western New Mexico there was also active vulcanism. It's apparent that natural, durable shelter was available as was food and water so they would have no need to maintain a nomadic lifestyle. Excavation of some of the lava tubes nearest this ancient lake may provide some of the materials that help place these people in time relative to the rest of us.
Thanks for the discussion. I appreciate your insight.
I understand the challenges these people would've faced dealing with local environmental issues common to the seasons they experienced. I wish we had more examples of the tools and technologies available to them so that we could write accurate stories about how they survived and prospered or simply endured. The important thing though is that we know they dealt with all their challenges and survived. These people were resilient.
I think the large collection of footprints at White Sands tells us that it is not necessary for a viable population of humans to make the journey, only for a single small group. The fact that there are multiple levels of tracks of humans and extinct land animals together supports the conclusions one could draw from the materials used in dating of the tracks and implies that those who made the journey went on to occupy the region for generations.
It's a fascinating subject and there will be more debate over the years but I think archaeologists will come around to the notion that modern man found his way into the interior of North America a long time before or at some point during the LGM and they found a home where there was a mild climate supporting plenty of game and shelter and they took advantage of that.
That is the reality of the tracks at White Sands. Some people took an opportunity to go south and once they completed that challenge they found themselves in a land of plenty and they made themselves at home. Whether they built a boat and sailed icy seas hoping for the best, or followed local game south overland across thawing tundra during a warm spell is something we will need to study. Maybe they just picked a leader like our Dads who couldn't find his way to the grocery store without a map and would never admit to being lost and eventually, after following this guy for months they found themselves south of the ice and the end morraines in an area with abundant game and at that point they composed their first songs and oral histories to tell the tale of their survival and rebirth in a new land of plenty.
As a historical novel it would be great.