Scientists Find Evidence of Vehicles From Tens of Thousands of Years Ago

Uncannily preserved in the sands of New Mexico, archaeologists have discovered the oldest evidence yet of a vehicle used by humans: drag marks, along with footprints, left in the ground that have been dated to 22,000 years ago. As detailed in a study published in the journal Quaternary Science Advances, these marks were left behind by a type of sledge known as a travois. Think of it as a wheelbarrow without the wheels. Typically comprising two wooden poles held in each hand at the front, and intersecting at the back in a V or X-shape, a travois would have been pulled across the ground, carrying meat, game or other supplies. Their usage is well-known to scientists — but this is by far the oldest example, predating the invention of the wheeled vehicle in Mesopotamia by some 17,000 years, according to researchers. "There's nothing this old," study author Matthew Bennett at the University of Bournemouth told New Scientist. The ancient runnels, as the authors describe them, were discove ... Read full article.