Analysis and Preservation of Pleistocene Human and Animal Footprints: An Example from Toluquilla, Valsequillo Basin (Central Mexico)

Huddart, David; Bennett, Matthew R.; González, Silvia; Velay, Xavier

doi:10.1080/10420940802470599

Cited by 18 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The median grain size of tephra decreases with distance from the source volcano (Fisher and Schmincke, 1984), so sites in distal settings tend to have better-preserved tracks than those from proximal settings. For example, compare tracks from Puebla, made in coarse sand-sized ash and lapilli in a proximal setting (Huddart et al, 2008), to those from Santa Cruz, made in fine to medium sand-sized ash in a distal setting (Fig. 7).…”

Section: Substratesmentioning

confidence: 98%

A Survey of Tetrapod Tracksites Preserved in Pyroclastic Sediments, with Special Reference to Footprints of Hominids, Other Mammals and Birds

Houck¹,

Lockley²,

Avanzini

2009

Ichnos

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Pyroclastic sediments provide an unusual and favorable medium for the recording, burial, and preservation of tetrapod tracks and other traces. Twenty-two tracksites were reviewed for the purpose of determining how these deposits contribute to track formation, burial, and preservation. These include Jurassic sites in Argentina and Mexico, Cretaceous sites in Korea, Miocene sites in Mexico and the United States, Pliocene sites in Tanzania, Pleistocene sites in Mexico, Korea, and Italy, and Holocene sites in Mexico, Turkey, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Nicaragua, and the United States. Twelve of the sites contain hominid tracks.Tracksites occur most commonly in reworked tephra on the shorelines of rivers, lakes, and seas. They also occur on pyroclastic falls, flows, and surges, and on lahars. Most tracksites are in volcanic arcs, especially around the Pacific Rim. A few occur in continental rifts or near intraplate volcanoes. Most older tracksites (Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Miocene) occur in silicic tephras such as rhyolite and dacite. The younger tracksites are mostly associated with basaltic tephra, though other compositions are also represented.Volcanic eruptions contribute to formation of substrates suitable for recording tracks by producing abundant fine-grained pyroclasts that interact physically and chemically with water to become cohesive. Hiatuses between eruptions provide time for tracks to accumulate, and in some cases, to lithify rapidly. Both physical processes (drying and compaction) and chemical processes (mineral precipitation) appear to be involved in early lithification. Eruptions also contribute to burial of tracks through rapid sedimentation and aggradation that typically follow a pyroclastic eruption. Multiple, closely spaced track horizons are common in pyroclastic sequences. Most tracksites are buried by either fallout tephra or reworked, waterlain deposits. Others are buried by lahars, pyroclastic flows and surges, or windblown ash. Upon exhumation pyroclastic deposits contribute to the formation of bedding planes through clay drapes, friable ash layers, and biotite-rich layers. Precipitation of authigenic minerals contributes to erosional resistance within beds. Bedding plane formation and erosional resistance facilitate discovery and study of tracks.

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Section: Substratesmentioning

confidence: 98%

A Survey of Tetrapod Tracksites Preserved in Pyroclastic Sediments, with Special Reference to Footprints of Hominids, Other Mammals and Birds

Houck¹,

Lockley²,

Avanzini

2009

Ichnos

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“…While long-range LiDAR has been used now to good effect at a number of dinosaur trackway sites (e.g., [16]–[18]) its application to human footprints sites has been more limited, possibly due to the relatively low point density spacing for most of these long-range systems and because the sties tend to smaller with fewer tracks. Bennett et al [7] used close-quarter optical laser scanning at the disputed Valesequllio footprint site in Mexico, developing the necessary equipment to allow field deployment [24] and the same data was used to demonstrate that these marks were in fact not human footprints at all [43]. A revised version of this approach was used at both the Ileret and Koobi Fora footprint sites [7].…”

Section: Part Two: Digital Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A range of optical laser scanning methods have also been deployed at footprint sites from long range Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) imaging [17], to close quarter and high resolution scanning [7]. The increased availability of methods with which to capture the three-dimensional surface of a print and to subsequently output it via three-dimensional printing or rapid proto-typing technology [24] provides a viable conservation and preservation strategy with which to preserve fragile and eroding footprint sites, but equally poses challenges with respect to the most appropriate digitising technique to adopt [25]. In this context the aim of this paper is two-fold: (1) to explore the geoconservation of soft-sediment human/hominin footprint sites; and (2) in light of this explore the role that digital conservation and specifically evaluate two alternative approaches – photogrammetry and optical laser scanning - with which to do so.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preserving the Impossible: Conservation of Soft-Sediment Hominin Footprint Sites and Strategies for Three-Dimensional Digital Data Capture

et al. 2013

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Human footprints provide some of the most publically emotive and tangible evidence of our ancestors. To the scientific community they provide evidence of stature, presence, behaviour and in the case of early hominins potential evidence with respect to the evolution of gait. While rare in the geological record the number of footprint sites has increased in recent years along with the analytical tools available for their study. Many of these sites are at risk from rapid erosion, including the Ileret footprints in northern Kenya which are second only in age to those at Laetoli (Tanzania). Unlithified, soft-sediment footprint sites such these pose a significant geoconservation challenge. In the first part of this paper conservation and preservation options are explored leading to the conclusion that to ‘record and digitally rescue’ provides the only viable approach. Key to such strategies is the increasing availability of three-dimensional data capture either via optical laser scanning and/or digital photogrammetry. Within the discipline there is a developing schism between those that favour one approach over the other and a requirement from geoconservationists and the scientific community for some form of objective appraisal of these alternatives is necessary. Consequently in the second part of this paper we evaluate these alternative approaches and the role they can play in a ‘record and digitally rescue’ conservation strategy. Using modern footprint data, digital models created via optical laser scanning are compared to those generated by state-of-the-art photogrammetry. Both methods give comparable although subtly different results. This data is evaluated alongside a review of field deployment issues to provide guidance to the community with respect to the factors which need to be considered in digital conservation of human/hominin footprints.

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“…) (e.g. Armenta Camacho, , ; Irwin‐Williams, , ; Pichardo, ; Ochoa‐Castillo et al ., ; Gonzalez et al ., ,; Huddart et al ., ). Based on U‐series and fission‐track dating methods (Szabo et al ., ; Steen‐McIntyre et al ., ) a date of last interglacial or older was assigned to these deposits (Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Early–Mid Pleistocene environments in the Valsequillo Basin, Central Mexico: a reassessment

Metcalfe¹,

Leng

Kirby³

et al. 2016

J Quaternary Science

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The Valsequillo Basin in Central Mexico has been of interest due to the presence of megafaunal remains and evidence for early human occupation, but research has been controversial. It has been suggested that extensive and deep lakes characterized the Early Pleistocene environment but sediment exposure is highly fragmentary and reliable dating has been difficult. Here we report, for the first time, Early Pleistocene palaeoenvironmental reconstructions using stable isotopes, diatoms, tephra and pollen. We studied several stratigraphic sections of mainly non-volcanic rocks, containing the 1.3-Ma Xalnene Ash as a stratigraphic marker. The isotope and other proxy data show that topographically low points in the basin were occupied by spring-fed, shallow water lakes during the Early-Mid Pleistocene, with a trend to drier conditions. The basin was a dynamic volcaniclastic environment during this period, with the production of the Toluquilla volcanic sequence and other rhyolitic-dacitic volcanic ashes interbedded with the lake sediments at the sections studied. There is no evidence from the sections for extensive and deep lakes before or after deposition of the Xalnene Ash. Wetter conditions in the basin during the Early Pleistocene would have made it attractive for megafauna.

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Analysis and Preservation of Pleistocene Human and Animal Footprints: An Example from Toluquilla, Valsequillo Basin (Central Mexico)

Cited by 18 publications

References 19 publications

A Survey of Tetrapod Tracksites Preserved in Pyroclastic Sediments, with Special Reference to Footprints of Hominids, Other Mammals and Birds

A Survey of Tetrapod Tracksites Preserved in Pyroclastic Sediments, with Special Reference to Footprints of Hominids, Other Mammals and Birds

Preserving the Impossible: Conservation of Soft-Sediment Hominin Footprint Sites and Strategies for Three-Dimensional Digital Data Capture

Early–Mid Pleistocene environments in the Valsequillo Basin, Central Mexico: a reassessment

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