“Archaeology holds all the keys to understanding who we are and where we come from.”

– Sarah Parcak

Each week on To the Point we share a few articles from the world of archaeology (and its many interconnected fields).

Footprints in New Mexico Are Oldest Evidence of Humans in the Americas

bbc.com | September 23, 2021

A team has uncovered human footprints at White Sands National Park in New Mexico, providing the earliest evidence of human activity in the Americas. The discovery suggests humans reached the Americas at least 7,000 years earlier than previously though, dating the footprints between 23,000 and 21,000 years old. 

Glass beads transformed Dakota art
Archaeology in West Africa could rewrite the textbooks on human evolution

“Like Auctioning Off the Sistine Chapel”

artnet.com | September 16, 2021
Picture Cave, considered one of the most important examples of rock art in North America, was auctioned off this week. The Osage Tribe previously tried to buy back their land, but was, unfortunately, sold to an unknown buyer for $2.2 million. 
livescience.com | September 20, 2021
The fossilized traces of two children from 200,000-years-ago may represent the oldest art of their kind ever discovered. Questions such as which species of hominin left the prints, and whether the findings would be considered art or not, are explored within this article. 
Indigenous land-use reduced catastrophic wildfires on the Fish Lake Plateau