Oldest Human Footprints in the Southwest Discovered at Tucson Construction Site

2/5. This footprint is among the dozens found at the road-construction site, under a layer of mineral-rich sediment. Archaeologists estimate their age at 2,500 to 3,000 years, making them the oldest human prints yet found in the American Southwest. (Copyright Western Digs. May not be used without permission.)

TUCSON, ARIZONA — A day’s work in an Arizona corn field some 2,500 years ago has been frozen in time, thanks to the footprints of some ancient farmers, their children, and even their dogs, which have been found perfectly preserved at a construction site just north of Tucson.

The prints number in the dozens and depict the movements of several adults and at least one child, as they tended to their neatly arranged crops and the small irrigation ditches that watered them.

Discovered in November by archaeologists investigating a parcel of land near Interstate 10, the prints are likely the oldest human tracks yet found in the American Southwest. [...] Western Digs / Link 2