A plastic replica of a 40,000-year-old, size eight foot has shattered previous theories of the identity of the first humans to walk in the Americas. Scientists made the foot from tracks left on the shore of an ancient volcanic lake in central Mexico.The traditional view is that the first settlers walked across the Bering Strait, from Russia to Alaska, at the end of the last ice age around 11,500 to 11,000 years ago.But the discovery of footprints in the Valsequillo Basin by a British-led team provides new evidence that humans settled in the Americas as early as 40,000 years ago, suggesting that there were several migration waves at different times by different groups.

The team, led by Dr Silvia Gonzalez from Liverpool John Moores University, has completed dating the footprints, which Dr Gonzalez found in an abandoned quarry with her Liverpool colleague Prof David Huddart and Prof Matthew Bennett, of Bournemouth University, in September 2003. The findings supported the theory that the first colonists might have been seafarers who took an "island hopping" route from Australia and Polynesia, when sea levels were lower, to the west coast, said Prof Bennett.

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"A plastic replica of a 40,000-year-old, size eight foot..."
errr.... eight?

So much prehistory is still buried underground that new discoverys will be an on going task for generations. And historical theory will have to be contested and revised as new discoverys are made. And some Countrys do not want the past revealed because of Religious and social policys. I wonder what the daily thoughts of a person 40000 years in the past would be like.

I would like to see more on this. They really didn't explain how they dated it. But it doesn't surprise me. There was a skeleton that was found in Alaska that was dated about that age. Unfortunately the Native Americans claimed it as an ancestor and it was buried before the further research could be done. I have suspected that the Bering Strait wasn't the only rout to America. When you look at south American Natives they have a Polynesia look about them and their Art looks Polynesian.




Most likely pretty much the same as we think now. "Women where is my good spear?" "Right were you dropped on the floor of the cave."

We are all coonnected...separated...but connected. Now if everyoone would just realize this all at once, please
P.S. I love new discoveries

This isn't really all that earth shattering. Historians have long speculated that journeys took place when coastlines were dried up and the "island hopping" as mentioned in the article, occured. By no means have I read of any historian stating that the only way people reached the new world was entirely through the landbridge.

Accepting the fact the All Races and Cultures are related, but different do to Climate and evolutionary changes can not happen in our Modern, Capitalist, Adversary based society. The most basic principle of modern Business is to get from others more than you produce or provide. The concept of Altruistic giving with out receiving in return seems to have been lost in this country over the years.

And cultural intolerance is getting worse. With the trouble in the Arab countrys and the influx of people from Mexico and other places, the concept of " Out of Many, ONE" seems to have been lost.

With our country being only a little over 200 years old, it seems the only legacy we have to pass on to our children is a history of WAR.

Or so it seems.