SEE CAPTION FOR MORE INFORMATION / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / National Park Service and Bournemouth University" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
This undated image courtesy of National Park Service and Bournemouth University shows fossilized footprints being in New Mexico. - The footprints dating back 23,000 years have been discovered in the US, suggesting humans settled North America long before the end of the last Ice Age, research published on September 23, showed. The findings push back the date at which the continent was colonized by its first inhabitants by thousands of years. The footprints were left in mud on the banks of a long-since dried up lake, which is now part of a New Mexico desert. (Photo by Handout / National Park Service and Bournemouth University / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / National Park Service and Bournemouth University" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS / TO GO IWTH AFP STORY, "Ancient footprints re-write humanity's history in the Americas"