HBH 53: 23,000 Year-Old White Sands Footprints with Dr. Edward Jolie

The History of Being Human

This week I wander off the topic of Life Extension (more next episode) to take advantage of an opportunity to interview an anthropologist about the White Sands footprints.
Not since the Laetoli Australopithecus prints has a set of human footprints rocked the world of paleontology like those found in White Sands, New Mexico. Studies have dated these prints to 21-23,000 year ago, more than 6000 years older than humans were known to have arrived in the Americas!
Many scientist are convinced the date is accurate; but if it is, it means a reshaping of an entire paradigm.
In this episode I speak with Dr. Edward Jolie about his work, and about those prints.
Dr. Jolie is the Clara Lee Tanner Associate Professor of Anthropology (School of Anthropology) and Associate Curator of Ethnology (Arizona State Museum) at the University of Arizona.
In this wide-ranging discussion we cover:
0: 00 Intro to Dr. Jolie and his work
12:10 Were the Anasazi (Ancestral Pueblo people) cannibals? (Sorry, I couldn't resist the Man Corn debate!)
14:40 The White Sands footprints
16:40 The "Clovis First" paradigm (ie., the "Standard Model" of peopling of Americas
20:50. Why the White Sands prints are potential paradigm changers
28:40 The reliability of oral cultural transmission
30:40 Two objections to the 21-23K year old dating
Thank you to Dr. Jolie for sharing his insights with us. See him here: https://www.nps.gov/media/video/view.htm%3Fid%3DA09EF77D-2A1B-47FD-A9B9-B9F1EC9BD00E
Graphic by Ian Armstrong