美国亚利桑那大学Vance T. Holliday团队研究了古湖泊年代学支持的新墨西哥州白沙人类足迹的末次冰期最大值（LGM）年龄。2025年6月20日出版的《科学进展》杂志发表了这项成果。

人们在新墨西哥州白沙的冲积层中发现了可追溯到末次冰期（LGM）的人类足迹，这是了解美洲最初人口分布的一个显著步骤，但这项工作受到了批评，主要集中在放射性碳定年中使用的材料（鲁皮亚种子和花粉）的可靠性上。研究组报道了一项对以前未被认识的古奥特罗湖地层记录年代学的独立研究，该记录可直接追溯到含迹冲积层。 

地层数据以及由两个独立于原始调查的实验室确定的沼泽泥上的26个额外的放射性碳定年记录了一个加积湖泊/湿地/溪流记录，其中包括距今>23600年至~17000年校准的轨迹和跨度，提供了另一条证据，进一步支持了轨迹LGM年龄的有效性。

附：英文原文

Title: Paleolake geochronology supports Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) age for human tracks at White Sands, New Mexico

Author: Vance T. Holliday, Jason D. Windingstad, Jordon Bright, Bruce G. Phillips, Joel B. Butler, Ryan Breslawski, James E. Bowman

Issue&Volume: 2025-06-20

Abstract: Discovery of human footprints in alluvium dated to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) at White Sands, New Mexico, was a notable step in understanding the initial peopling of the Americas, but that work was met with criticism focused on the reliability of the materials used in the radiocarbon dating (seeds of Ruppia and pollen). This paper reports on an independent study of the chronology of a previously unrecognized stratigraphic record of paleolake Otero that is directly traceable into the track-bearing alluvium. The stratigraphic data along with 26 additional radiocarbon dates on palustrine mud determined by two labs independent of the original investigations document an aggrading lake/wetland/stream record that includes the tracks and spans >23.6 thousand years to ~17.0 thousand calibrated years before present, providing another line of evidence further supporting the validity of an LGM age for the tracks.

DOI: adv4951

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adv4951