Ice Age Footprints

Who made these mysterious prints? And how old are they?

White Sands, New Mexico: this stunning location is where America’s first atomic bomb test was carried out. But hidden in this landscape are clues to a far more dramatic human story.

A world-leading team of palaeontologists has uncovered astonishing fossil footprints dating all the way back to the end of the last ice age: mammoths over 13ft tall, giant ground sloths that grazed like cattle, and fearsome big cats. And amongst them, ancient human footprints.

Experts believe the evidence hidden in the trackways could shed new light on the lives of some of the earliest Americans. But could they also help solve two of the biggest mysteries of the Ice Age: when did people first arrive in North America? And could humans be responsible for the extinction of the ice age megafauna?

But who made these mysterious prints? And how old are they?

Palaeontologist Kirk Johnson joins a team of archaeologists and scientists on a field trip that could transform experts’ understanding of the story of human migration into the Americas.