Category Archives: NORTH AMERICA

Found: The Oldest and Largest Maya Structure in Mexico

Found: The Oldest and Largest Maya Structure in Mexico

The oldest and largest Maya monumental structure on record has just been discovered after scientists shot millions of lasers from a plane to map an area in southern Mexico.

Seen via lidar, however, the Aguada Fénix platform stands out prominently on the Mexican landscape.

At the newfound site, called Aguada Fénix, researchers found an artificial plateau measuring about 0.9 miles (1.4 kilometers) long, 0.2 miles (399 meters) wide, and between 33 and 50 feet (10 and 15 m) high. And it likely served as a communal gathering place for the Maya. 

The discovery pushes back when archaeologists thought this civilization built large structures, especially because there weren’t yet any dynasties to organize such an endeavor.

“It forced us to change our understanding of the development of Maya civilization and the development of human society in general,” said Takeshi Inomata, a professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona, who led a new study on the finding.

Archaeologists have traditionally thought that the Maya civilization developed gradually. From 1200 B.C. to 1000 B.C., the people in the Maya lowlands were thought to have moved about, with a combination of hunting, gathering, and some farming, including growing maize.

It wasn’t until the Middle Preclassic period (1000-350 B.C.), the thinking went, that small village began to emerge, along with the creation of ceramics and a transition to sedentism — staying in one place for a long time.

According to this theory, the Maya didn’t begin building ceremonial centers with large pyramids until much later, sometime between 350 B.C. and 250 B.C. However, this idea is now under fire. Radiocarbon dating of 69 samples from Aguada Fénix shows that it was used between 1000 B.C. and 800 B.C. After it was largely abandoned by 750 B.C., small groups returned to use the structure.

Aguada Fénix isn’t the only site overturning the traditional interpretation. For instance, a ceremonial complex and artificial plateau built at Ceibal in 950 B.C. (until now, considered the oldest Maya ceremonial center), indicates that the early Maya built large structures even before the civilization became organized under dynasties with centralized government, the researchers said.

To the naked eye, the ancient site of Aguada Fénix is invisible among the rural ranches of Tabasco.
The adorable “Choco,” a peccary-esque sculpture found at the site.

Not ‘deep in the jungle’

Aguada Fénix wasn’t hidden deep in the jungle, but rather on a cattle ranch in Tabasco, Mexico, near the northwestern Guatemalan border. Nobody knew about this site because it’s so big, that if you walk on the site it just looks like a natural landscape, Inomata told Live Science. 

After finding the site in 2017, Inomata and his colleagues did a lidar (light detection and ranging) survey at Tabasco. With lidar, a plane flies over an area while equipment on board shoots millions of lasers that can pass through vegetation and generate 3D maps depicting the shape of the Earth and the structures on it.

The lidar survey revealed the artificial plateau and nine causeways radiating from it. The main plateau is up to 151 million cubic feet (4.3 million cubic meters) in volume. The next largest Maya structure, the La Danta complex at El Mirador in Guatemala, is 98 million cubic feet (2.8 million cubic meters).

“In other words, the main plateau of Aguada Fénix is the largest construction in the pre-Hispanic Maya area,” the researchers wrote in the study. After the lidar survey, the researchers excavated the plateau to learn more about its construction. During that time, the team found jade and stone artifacts that were likely used in rituals at Aguada Fénix. 

Power to the people

Aguada Fénix bears some similarities to San Lorenzo, an even larger artificial plateau built by the Olmec, who thrived there from 1400 B.C. to 1150 B.C. in what is now the Mexican state of Veracruz. San Lorenzo also has colossal sculptures of stone heads and thrones, a clue that the Olmec society already had a hierarchy because it was honoring certain elites. 

There is a debate on whether the Olmec civilization led to the Maya, or whether the Maya developed independently, Inomata noted. 

That said, unlike San Lorenzo, Aguada Fénix had far less evidence of social inequality, the researchers found. “Unlike those Olmec centers, Aguada Fénix does not exhibit clear indicators of marked social inequality, such as sculptures representing high-status individuals,” the researchers wrote in the study. “The only stone sculpture found so far at Aguada Fénix depicts an animal” — a peccary, or wild pig.

Aguada Fénix differs in other ways from San Lorenzo; it incorporates distinctly Maya features, including raised causeways and reservoir systems, said Lisa Lucero, a professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who was not involved with the study.

While later Maya pyramids were built for the elite, Aguada Fénix was built by the people, for the people. “This big plateau is basically for everybody,” Inomata said. “It’s a place where people [could] gather.”

It’s no surprise that the Maya built a place to congregate, Lucero said. Other monumental structures, including Stonehenge in Great Britain and Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, show “when people lived dispersed and/or a more nomadic lifestyle, that they created a community to build such places,” and they didn’t need elite political leaders to organize it, she said. 

At Aguada Fénix, Maya who was dispersed due to agricultural demands could come together to work, celebrate, share knowledge, exchange goods, meet potential mates, worship, and so on, Lucero told Live Science. 

“Based on the different soils, it is likely that people from many different communities built Aguada Fénix, even bringing soils from their homes,” she added. The study was published online June 3 in the journal Nature. 

Lost continent is hidden in plain sight

Lost continent is hidden in plain sight

The Kaibab Plateau located in central Northern Arizona showcases a mysterious majestic city epic in size and proportion. While this city is officially referred to as a series of natural “Grand Canyon Monuments”, they are in fact precisely arranged pyramids towers and temples aligned to both the star and nebula pattern of ORION “The Hunter” and Pleiades constellations.

This appears to be a great city of a “lost” continent hidden in plain sight. There is neither folklore nor definition of it, although, Egyptian and Asian artifacts have been found.

Some of which swiped under the guidance of the Smithsonian Institute. If giant Nephilim skeletons were recovered, only the inner circles of the secret societies would know. The city is veiled in secrecy using deceptive language and tactics as a device for keeping the general population from understanding what the “Monuments of the Grand Canyon” truly are.

The topographical map of the National Park shows the high elevations of the monuments named after Egyptian and Asian Gods, etc.

A water sculpted canyon. Now that’s a ‘wonder’

The Monuments embedded within this great chasm is now confirmed to be a set of pyramids and structures defining a city of such enormous expanse that it very well could have been the metropolis of a lost continent populated with an antediluvian civilization. The antediluvian period begins with the Creation according to Genesis and ends with the destruction of all life on the earth except those saved with Noah in the Ark, and possibly disguised by the knowledge of the secret societies.

This city is a remnant of an ancient continent. It remains a mystery, however, the notion that it may even be infamous and highly sought after the lost continent of Atlantis is certainly plausible, it most likely is a companion pyramid array not unlike what would be found at the 19th leyline node, Atlantis, or the first node where the great pyramid Khufu stands exactly in the centre of the earth plane.

The hypothetical “Lost land” known as Lemuria might be considered by some, however, the legend and theories regarding Lemuria are more rooted in fictional hearsay than would lend more research for revival here with the identifying location as a reasonable manner the city within the canyon. The opposite may be true as further research takes place in which more may be revealed.

West Java, Indonesia perhaps

In the case of the sunken continent of Atlantis, it has always been thought of as an entire parcel of land surrounded by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The world-renowned cosmic channel, Edgar Cayce, verifies this although sceptics and others have postulated otherwise.

One professor, the late professor Arysio Nunes dos Santos, suggests Atlantis is in the location of the newly discovered pyramids found on West Java, Indonesia. Other volumes of published materials produce mostly conjecture, however, without an honest look at real evidence. They are valiant efforts.

The likely truth is that a world flood did occur covering much of the topography of the land and seas in which when had mostly receded, Atlantis remained submerged and not sunken at all.  Or, the waters that were added to the downpour of the waters from above creating the destructive force killing all life and devastating all constructs on the surface created a ‘sinkhole’ effect in which the mythical place we call Atlantis did actually sink.

There is a proof now that pyramids do exist in the Southwest United States. They do reside under an ancient seabed which establishes that they are all coordinated and line up precisely with the major stars and nebulae of the constellation Orion “The Hunter”. The same has been established with the great pyramids of Giza in Egypt. The difference is that all of the stars and nebulae of Orion match with the canyon Monuments with clarity.

The Grand Canyon with all its pristine beauty is neither naturally formed or organic in nature. This unique area at the Kaibab Plateau is indeed a widespread chasm that could not have possibly been carved out by a tumultuous river which is narrow by comparison. A simple observation of the angularity about the Monuments shows that they are devoid of sweeping curves on the stones. This logically demonstrates that water did not spend enough time sculpting smooth forms.

Is the historic record genuine?

If geologists, archaeologists, scientists of all areas agree that the mighty Colorado River in it’s strange but rather small in scale and configuration could form this canyon, then perhaps our geological historians are accurate. I agree that a river or series of them did cut vast areas of earth from the South to North rim and then on over to Nevada and down. I’ll buy the argument that simply because these are ancient structures built of hardened earth and that the soft was swept away over millions of years and so on has to be that simply because I’m showing proof these are aligned to stars.

I would have to also think that if we washed away all of the soft earth over the entire continent that we’d find the whole of our astrological system in the form of intelligently crafted pointed buildings. After all, what else other than a globe besieged by water could bury so many archaeological finds throughout the world? I do not believe that over time earthly renovations due to tropical storms, even hurricanes, tsunamis, and volcanic activity could have buried modern in ancient times cities.

There is evidence that mighty pointed formations are found in other canyons. And, they are also stepped and blocked. Blocks are angled at 90 degrees and these angles are seen in the Grand Canyon almost every yard of the way. This means that rivers did etch away doing its beautiful carving of the Great Deluge sediment from the original engineering constructs.

If this is absurd, then there’s room to suggest that there may have been an alien intentioned agenda at large. Perhaps there were massive ore harvesting projects aimed at stealing enormous caches of treasure, in particular, GOLD. A mining project as large as Massachusetts perhaps.

An Alien archaeological dig

Lost continent is hidden in plain sight

If the historical record is wrong that a river the width of the Colorado River could have snaked its way completely and everywhere around these monumental features, then there must be an explanation as to how this massive ditch be created. The river could have been wider or several as opposed to the single one we know today, however, if there is an explanation, it would have to be alien inspired.

This great gorge may actually be an ancient geoforming project on the largest of scales known on planet Earth. The intent, obviously Alien, was to remove the softer ancient seabed sediment and earth that had engulfed the city. This occurred most likely during the flooding of the planet as told in Biblical terms regarding Noah and the story of the Ark.

This city then became an unearthed treasure trove find by off-world interests. Perhaps those who competed, or even battled against the Anunnaki of Nibiru (Planet X). Their goal perhaps for conquest over the megalithic cache of gold – primarily – that to a person living today be incomprehensibly vast. For you see, the Monuments of the Grand Canyon may have been completely covered – layered – in gold. The temples were filled as well as ordained with silver, gold and platinum. Aluminium was also a valuable metal. This city could very well have had the appearance of a scaled-up, way up, version of the most ornate crown of jewellery.

Why was this alien archaeological dig conducted?

A scene In the 2011 film Cowboys and Aliens in which an alien spaceship arrives in Arizona in 1873 to mine for gold, a unique technology was used. The scene to the right depicts unique liquid streaming of gold as it rises as if drippings along a string up from the depth of the canyon into the alien ship.

To plunder and harvest gold of coarse. A project of this size had to have been to liberate the treasure from a whole city the size of, well, the Grand Canyon. Alien ‘Pirates’! Once the city was revealed, some incredible technology had to have been implemented to strip the precious metals from the massive Monuments. Perhaps a complex smelting process was used. The gold then off-loaded to other locations on Earth or off-world. Hollywood, as always, gives us a “tell” in an alien-related film in which an unusual method is shown how an alien intelligence extracts gold from the earth. This is relevant for the reason it is taking place in Arizona, the location of the mining, or excavation, is in a canyon, and that it is being conducted by aliens. Furthermore, a war is taking place all because of gold.

Iroquoian Woodland Village Site Discovered in Ontario

Iroquoian Woodland Village Site Discovered in Ontario

Excavation of an Iroquoian village site in southeastern Canada ahead of a road construction project has yielded more than 35,000 artefacts, according to a Kitchener Today report.

Representatives of the Six Nations of the Grand Reserve, the Haudenosaunee Development Institute, and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation have been working with archaeologists throughout the process. Archaeologist Barbara Slim said the village has been dated to between A.D. 1300 and 1600. 

The village site has yielded over 35,000 to date in the 400 square units that have been excavated. Those one-by-one metre squares of hand sifted soil have included evidence of permanent settlement, ceramics used for cooking and food preparation, stone tools and more.

A collection of example artifacts found in Fischer-Hallman excavation.
An archaeologist hand sifts soil
Archaeologists work to uncover artifacts on Fischer-Hallman.
A dig feature containing pieces of ceramic.

Associate Archeologist with Wood PLC Barbara Slim said that the company is working closely with the Region of Waterloo as part of the Fischer-Hallman road redevelopment. She said the site was initially uncovered in 2017 in the western end of the property, eventually found to extend to the East through construction monitoring.

“Usually in archaeology when you have a roadway you assume that… that extent of disturbance would completely have removed the site…” said Slim. “… in this case, it did the opposite; it capped it under one-point-eight metres of fill with four layers of asphalt – so we’re in the process of excavating that.”

According to their findings, Slim said the site being excavated is a late woodland village, dated to be from around 1300 to 1600. The investigation has found a permanent settlement with several longhouses, as well as a broad range of artefacts and bone material.

Some of the more interesting items from the excavation include carbonized evidence of bean and corn – a unique find dated to that time period. Also uncovered was a chalcedony projectile point, made from a material not found in Southern Ontario.

“… we know there were a number of different villages within the area – at least four or five that we know of. It is quite important to understand that time period in Ontario archaeology, and to get a better sense of how long we’ve been here,” said Slim. “I should mention we also found an artefact that dates to 4,000 years ago – that just goes to show this was a very important resource area where people were coming back (…) to utilize the resources available.”

Slim said an important part of the work of archaeologists is to work with local indigenous communities to do the work alongside them. The project is accompanied by several Indigenous field liaison representatives – including those from Six Nations of the Grand Reserve, Haudenosaunee Development Institute and Mississaugas of the Credit.

Matthew Muttart is the field director with Wood PLC and has experience working closely with these groups in the excavation process. He said that First Nations groups have brought traditional and cultural perspective to the artefacts being unearthed.

“I’m very fortunate to have them with me in the field because we look at the site and how to proceed together. We discuss our methodology and how we’re going to proceed – and that’s very useful for me,” said Muttart.

Due to the volume of artefacts found, the archaeological work is set to continue for the rest of this construction season, with additional work needing to be completed next year.

It’s expected that excavation costs will be higher than originally estimated, with additional costs for completing road construction work that will now need to be completed later. Excavation staff will be providing an updated report to Regional Council in the new year.

Slim said she’s optimistic that Fischer-Hallman Road will be reopened as planned by the end of 2020 with a 2-lane temporary road cross-section.

In the offseason, Muttart said artefacts will be cleaned, catalogued and analysed to see if they can find any patterns or answer any questions to get a better understanding of the inhabitants of the site.

“We try to engage with the general public with the First Nations groups and try to have the artefacts tell a story, educate people and give a perspective…” said Muttart. “We’re in this part of the world that have been occupied for at least 10,000 years; it has a very rich history and a history that Canadians don’t get a lot of opportunities to learn about…”

“We’re writing the last chapter of this site… so it’s really important that we’re doing it meticulously, giving it the respect and care that the site deserves – as archaeologists, we’re stewards to that’s our charge.”

Archaeologists on site are operating with a modified protocol due to COVID-19 – with teams of three now working separately with masks in order to ensure safe physical distancing. Slim said the important measure has slowed the operation down, but not enough to make a significant dent in the team’s schedule. Local students were also originally set to join the dig team – that measure has been postponed to the Spring should the COVID-19 pandemic be more under control.

“Every day here has been really exciting – every component of the site has evolved in a very unique way. It’s been a very challenging project from the beginning, but very interesting to work with the communities, to work with this great team we have here to unearth what’s preserved…”

Century-Old Little Girl Found In Coffin Under San Francisco Home Identified

Century-Old Little Girl Found In Coffin Under San Francisco Home Identified

In the 1800s the mysterious girl, whose body was found under a house in San Francisco, her body entombed in a small lead and bronze coffin and her well-preserved hands clutching a single red rose, has been identified.

Garden of Innocence’s nonprofit project says the child — who not only astonished the work Crew who stumbled over the Casket but also city officials who thought the bodies in the 19th century Richmond District cemetery had all been moved — is Edith Howard Cook.

Edith was a month and a half short of her third birthday when she died Oct. 13, 1876, according to researchers working with the Southern California’s Garden of Innocence.

The cause of her death? Probably severe undernourishment caused by an infection, the researchers said.

The team had been working to identify the girl since her body was discovered during a home remodelling project near Lone Mountain.

Construction worker Kevin Boylan told KTVU: ‘All the hair was still there. The nails were there. There were flowers – roses, still on the child’s body. It was a sight to see.’

“It was a light at the end of the tunnel finding out who she is,” said Erica Hernandez, a project spokeswoman

The researchers, who included staff at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis, located records from the old cemetery that was run by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows until about 1902, when the graves were relocated to Colma.

Although the paperwork was “unorganized,” Hernandez said, the team was able to cross-reference plot records with old newspaper obituaries and get an idea of who the young child might be.

Once it concluded that Edith was probably the girl, the team tracked down living relatives for a DNA sample to verify their finding. That confirmation came when a sample from Edith’s hair matched that of Peter Cook, a descendant of her brother, who lives in Marin County.

Edith Howard Cook was the second child and first daughter of Horatio Nelson and Edith Scooffy Cook. Peter Cook is descended from Edith’s older brother, Milton H. Cook.

Edith’s family was believed to be of decent means, having buried the child in a relatively expensive metal casket 37 inches in length, with two viewing windows on the lid.

Her skin and hair, as well as her burial flowers, were well preserved. She was one of about 30,000 people with graves at the old Odd Fellows Cemetery.

Why her remains weren’t transported to Colma around 1920, when the city wanted to make room for the living, remains a mystery.

Skeletons Found Under a Florida Wine Shop May Be Some of America’s First Colonists

Skeletons Found Under a Florida Wine Shop May Be Some of America’s First Colonists

Historians recently announced in Florida that several small children’s bones buried beneath underneath the last place one might think to look: a wine shop.

However, there will be no police inquiry. The Florida wine shop happens to be located in St. Augustine, America’s oldest city. And those bones? They’re just about as old as the city is.

The archaeologists actually believe that these skeletal remains could have been among the first settlers in North America.

In the past few weeks, researchers have found seven people including three children, in the ancient graveyard.

According to the St. Augustine Register, one of them was a young white European woman.

Researchers are still examining the other remains, but a pottery fragment found nearby suggests that these people died sometime between 1572 and 1586.

“What you’re dealing with is people who made St. Augustine what it is,” Carl Halbirt, St. Augustine city archaeologist, tells FirstCoast News. “You’re in total awe. You want to treat everything with respect, and we are.”

Excavations inside the Fiesta Mall (City of St. Augustine)

Archaeologists were able to dig underneath the building thanks to the effects of last year’s Hurricane Matthew, the flooding from which convinced the building’s owner that it was time to replace the wooden floor.

According to Smithsonian Magazine, the building’s floor was constructed in 1888, and the soil beneath the building has remained untouched since then, thus creating a virtual time capsule.

The building also happens to be built where the ancient Church of Nuestra Señora de la Remedios used to stand.

“The mission churches across Florida buried everybody in the church floor,” Ellsbeth Gordon, an architectural historian, told FirstCoast News. “It was consecrated ground, of course.”

According to Smithsonian, Sir Francis Drake burned the church down in 1586, a hurricane destroyed it again in 1599, and the British once again burned it down in 1702.

That last time may have been for good, but until then the church had been the main meeting point for a colony that had been established 55 years before the Pilgrims ever set foot on Plymouth Rock.

While the archaeologists are planning on moving the bones found outside the wine shop to a nearby cemetery, the skeletons found inside will stay right where they have lain for the past 400 years.

Hundreds of Well Preserved Prehistoric Animals have been Found in an Ancient Volcanic Ashbed in Nebraska

Hundreds of Well Preserved Prehistoric Animals have been Found in an Ancient Volcanic Ashbed in Nebraska

The watering holes attracted prehistoric animals among Nebraska’s tall grasslands. From horses to camels and rhinoceroses, with wild dogs looming nearby, animals roamed the savanna-like region.

Then, one day, it all changed. Hundreds of miles away, a volcano in southeast Idaho erupted. Within days, up to two feet of ash covered parts of present-day Nebraska.

Some of the animals died immediately, consumed with ash and other debris. Most of the animals lived for several more days, their lungs ingesting ash as they searched the ground for food. Within a few weeks, northeast Nebraska was barren of animals, except for a few survivors.

Hundreds of Well Preserved Prehistoric Animals have been Found in an Ancient Volcanic Ashbed in Nebraska
An adult (3) rhino fossil lies next to a baby’s fossils. They are among hundreds of skeletons discovered at Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park in Royal, Nebraska.

More than 12 million years later, a fossil was found in Antelope County, near the small town of Royal. The skull of a baby rhino was discovered by a Nebraska palaeontologist and his wife while exploring the area. The fossil was exposed by erosion. Soon after, exploration started in the area.

As more discoveries were made, the site grew into a tourist attraction. Today, people visit Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park to check out hundreds of fossils from 12 species of animals, including five types of horses, three species of camels, as well as a sabre-toothed deer. The infamous sabre-toothed cat remains a dream discovery.

Visitors view fossils inside the Hubbard Rhino Barn, a 17,500-square foot facility that protects the fossils while allowing visitors to roam on a boardwalk. Kiosks provide information on fossils located in specific areas.

One level of the fossil beds discovered at Ashfall Fossil Beds park.

As you tour the barn, if a summer intern or palaeontologist is nearby, they are open to discussing their work, as well as answering questions. During our visit, we learned that an intern had discovered a fossilized dog paw print.

Outside the barn, visitors can read facts about the area, including that mammoths migrated to North America about 1.5 million years ago. A yellow flag in an area a short distance from the main walk to the barn indicates the discovery site of the rhino skull. Red flags showcase spots where additional fossils were discovered.

A yellow flag marks the site of the first skull discovery in 1971. The red flags indicate spots of additional fossil finds.

Visitor activities and views at Ashfall Fossil Beds

In addition to the Hubbard Barn, Ashfall Fossil Beds features a discovery area where children can cipher through the sand searching for their own fossil discoveries. A small barn is used for special exhibits, as well as classes.

Children play in a sandbox “searching” for fossils.

The visitors centre houses some animal remains, as well as palaeontologists working on recent finds. About 60 million years before the area was home to the savanna, Nebraska was part of a tropical sea.

Fossils found in the area include a plesiosaur, a mammal from the Jurassic Period. The fossils displayed were found on the Santee reservation, about an hour away.

Fossils from a plesiosaur were found near Santee, about an hour from the park.c

Sculptures representing animals from the region are located around the state historical park. Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park kicks off its summer hours Memorial Day weekend when it’s open daily through Labor Day. Otherwise, check the website here for hours.

A state park permit ($6 per vehicle for an in-state day permit or free with an annual pass) is required for visiting the park, in addition to the $7 entrance fee.

World’s longest fossilized human trackway discovered at White Sands

World’s longest fossilized human trackway discovered at White Sands

Footprints are a common theme at White Sands. Every day, people from all over the world visit and leave traces of their comings and goings. The white dunes of the Tularosa Basin are just a recent blip on the geological timeline.

During the ice age tens of thousands of years ago, a giant body of water called Lake Otero existed. The climate was wetter, and the vegetation was abundant. One could have seen grasslands stretching for miles that would have looked more like the prairies of Nebraska than New Mexico’s deserts.

This paradise of lush green life naturally captured the attention of the larger animals of the ice age. Plant eaters of all kinds came to Lake Otero to feast on the grasses and trees of the Tularosa Basin.

White Sands has the largest collection of fossilized human footprints.

Large plant-eaters attracted fearsome predators of the ice age, such as dire wolves and the American lion. Throughout the ice age, these animals left their footprints along the wetlands of Lake Otero.

Around 12,000 years ago, the earth’s climate began to show signs of change. Areas once green and lush started transforming into the desert landscape we see today. Rainfall in the Tularosa Basin became rare, and the great Lake Otero began to dry.

The once large body of freshwater became only pools of water scattered along the former lakebed. As the waters of Lake Otero dried, crystals began to form from the gypsum left behind by the evaporating lake water. The constant blowing of the wind broke down those large crystals into smaller crystals. This eventually formed the white sand dunes that gave this park its name.

Odd dark spots were discovered to be hidden footprints. Columbian Mammoth footprints are the most common.

Today we find fossil footprints of the animals that once lived here at White Sands more than 10,000 years ago. Scattered along the now dried lakebed are trackways and trample grounds of ancient camels and Columbian Mammoths. These fossilized footprints appear to gather around what may be ancient pools of water.

For 80 years, only a small collection of fossil footprints were known. However, a group of scientists noticed dark spots dotting the expanse of the lakebed that appeared to be footprints. Their curiosities lead them to dig up these odd dark spots.

This led to the discovery of both Harlan’s Ground Sloth and Paleo-Human footprints. During the 2010s, footprints of a dire wolf were discovered. These footprints were located next to ancient seeds. Scientists dated these seeds to more than 18,000 years ago.

The people, who once lived in the Tularosa Basin, left very little proof they lived here. Throughout the basin, pieces of stone flakes from toolmaking, arrowheads, and spear points have been found. However, these appear to be related to peoples who lived after the ice age.

This is in contrast to the surrounding areas that are filled with items left behind from ancient peoples. The lakebed of Lake Otero seems to be almost devoid of a single artifact that dates to before the Spanish exploration in the 1500s, let alone the ice age.

In a scene from the ice age, a woman holding a child on the shores of the ancient Lake Otero leave the footprints in the mud.

At White Sands, we find many remarkable tracks scattered across the lakebed. This includes a long track of human footprints that extends for long distances. While these footprints are ancient, scientists are still uncovering new evidence of past life.

In 2018, researchers discovered what they believe to be the footprints of a female. They tell a story that may seem familiar today her footprints show her walking for almost a mile, with a toddler’s footprints occasionally showing up beside hers.

The footprints broadened and slipped in the mud with additional weight. This suggests that she carried the child, shifting them from side to side and setting them down as they walked. Footprints across White Sands have been found coexisting and interacting with extinct ice age animals.

One set of footprints shows what appears to be humans stalking a giant sloth. This is shown by human footprints being found inside the footprints of the sloth as they were tracked. Currently, there is no evidence of a fruitful hunt, but this is not surprising. Most ice age hunts were not successful, with only one out of three hunts ending with a kill.

The ice age ended because of changes in the earth’s climate. Environments once rich in lush green life began to disappear. The reason for the disappearance of the great beasts of the ice age is still debated among scientists. More than likely, it was the combination of both the changes in climate and the overhunting by skilled people.

The fossilized footprints of White Sands are probably the most important resources in the Americas to the understanding of the interaction of humans and extinct animals from the ice age.

These fossilized footprints, among other natural and cultural features found in the dunefield, further propelled the movement to re-designate White Sands National Monument into White Sands National Park. As a massive landscape filled with history that stretches beyond points on our planet’s geologic timeline, White Sands continually proves itself to be more than just a sandbox.

World’s longest fossilized human trackway discovered at White Sands
An adult and toddlers footprints on the surface of a playa at White Sands National Park. These tracks extend for almost a mile.

What Lies Beneath? Finding North America’s lost medieval city

What Lies Beneath? Finding North America’s lost medieval city

At the time of its existence, this city was larger than Paris or London and housed about 30,000 citizens.  This is around the size of Juneau Alaska today (if you include the surrounding boroughs). If this estimate is correct, It was the largest city in the United States until the 1780s, when the population of Philadelphia finally surpassed it. So where was this lost historic capital?

The city was known as Cahokia. It reached its peak population in 1050 and was then abandoned in 1400. We don’t even know the name of the people who lived there.  The city was named after the tribe of Cahokia who lived there, but the tribe of Cahokia claimed no connection with the city; it was the European explorers who named it.

A group known as Mississippians are the original inhabitants. They were great builders and craftspeople, and they had a significant influence on the surrounding areas—just check out the extent of the territory they have been reported to have impacted.

Artist’s recreation of downtown Cahokia, with Monk’s Mound at its centre.

Studies suggest that Cahokia was in fact the first melting pot in North America, drawing in people from surrounding areas (as much as one-third of their population consisting of immigrants from other tribes and groups). These people could have migrated away after the decline of the city, meaning that the Cahokia tribe might not be the descendants of the city builders.

So again, where was this metropolis hiding? How do we know it even existed at all? I bet you wouldn’t guess it was buried under the suburbs of St. Louis, would you? If this city was right under our noses all this time, why are we only really exploring it now?

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

Exploration of the area occurred sporadically, and earthen mounds don’t make for particularly exciting discoveries like gold or jewels. So, this lost city went the way of most—instead of preserving the shifting space, for monuments or museums, it was used for growing room as the population in the area expanded.

The growth of human civilization can be a bit unforgiving at times to ancient historical sites. Famous historical cities of the world are built on the ruins of their own past. Cahokia is no different.

Up goes a drive-in movie theatre here, a subdivision there, and a variety of other infrastructure required of our time. The area today is like any other in modern America, crisscrossed by roads and highways like veins in an ever-changing landscape, but underneath all of that, it is filled with a rich history.

What was in the city?

While we have known about the ancient city for hundreds of years, our knowledge has largely been restricted to the awareness of mounds seen above the surface. Those mounds are pretty impressive though. Consider that all the mounds in Cahokia were built by hand. People dug up clay and transported it by hand, likely in woven baskets.

Aerial view of Monk’s Mound via WesternDigs
Evidence of the human sacrifices uncovered at Mound 72.

One of the most notable mounds is the one called Monks Mound. Monks Mound rises 100 feet high (about 30 meters) and has three distinct levels. Archaeological evidence shows that there was a building at the peak of the mound which could have risen another 50 feet (15 meters).

This mound is estimated to have taken as much as 250 years to build, but new evidence suggests it might have been completed in a mind-blowing 20 years. The entire structure was made up of an estimated 22 million cubic feet/623 thousand cubic meters of the earth (that’s a lot of baskets).

To put the size of the mound into perspective, the base of the mound is comparable to the Great Pyramid at Giza, and it is the largest prehistoric earthen construction in America north of Mexico.

Archaeological studies suggest that the city is so much more than just mounds. There are extensive ceremonial areas, including at least one Woodhenge – a structure similar to Stonehenge in the UK, that was used to monitor the movement of the sun and stars to predict events such as harvests.

There are also extensive living areas, the grand plaza gathering area, a copper workshop, burial sites, and evidence of an extensive wooden palisade (estimated at 15 feet tall, or 4.6 meters). Over 1,000 years ago, this was a pretty happening place.

Unfortunately, as the construction techniques in Cahokia involved using wood and earth, there are no stone ruins like we might see in Egypt or Rome. This means that the city was more easily reclaimed by nature—but that doesn’t make it any less impressive than its ancient counterparts.

Lessons from the past

If you’re thinking Cahokia sounds pretty amazing, you’re right. So, the obvious question is, why was it abandoned?

This is one of the most interesting questions about abandoned cities. In modern times the idea of abandoning a fully-formed city seems ludicrous (especially considering real estate prices in Toronto and Vancouver).

New studies of the flood patterns of the Mississippi River might be shedding some light on the situation. The rise of Cahokia falls in line with periods of relatively low flooding. This would have made farming and city expansion relatively easy. Then, towards the end of the city’s life, the floods returned, with one flood around the year 1200 being as much as 33 feet (10 meters) high. That’s the kind of stuff we make disaster movies about, so it is pretty easy to understand how that could contribute to the decline of the city.

Flood researchers are also careful to say that there was likely a multitude of causes contributing to the decline of the city, such as war or disease. It boggles the mind in many ways. Think of our modern cities. What would it take for us to abandon New Orleans, New York, or another metropolis?

The whole area was designated as a state historical site about 40 years ago and made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982. It is always comforting to see history receive the recognition it so richly deserves, but this ancient metropolis also has a lesson for all of us in modern times: the greatest cities of mankind are often very dependent on specific environmental circumstances, and if those circumstances change they can have a very dramatic impact on the people who live in and around them.