Culture

13,000-Year-Old Footprints Discovered in British Columbia

The footprints belong to three people living on an island during the later part of the ice age.

March 30, 2018 5:00 am

The fog rolls into the ancient Haida village site of T'aanuu Llnagaay, August 17, 2008. Within the boundaries of Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, T'aanuu is a Haida Heritage Site on the east side of Tanu Island. The name refers to a type of sea grass found nearby. At one time, there were between 25 to 40 longhouses in the village. (Photo by Farah Nosh/Getty Images)

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The oldest footprints in North America have been discovered in British Columbia, Canada, according to a story in Live Science. The footprints found on Calvert Island are 29 in all, belonging to two adults and one child, and appear to be roughly 13,000 years old. The footprints support the claim that humans were living on Canada’s west coast during the end of the last ice age, according to anthropologist and research leader Duncan McLaren. Calvert Island toward the end of the ice age was a “refugia,” a habitable area that, unlike other nearby locales, was not covered in ice. Given the location of the footprints in clay on the shoreline, McLaren proposed the possibility that the humans were disembarking a boat.