Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1941-05-27
Footprints Place
Man in New World
1000 Years Ago
Marks Record Time
Nieuroeuon Primitives
Fled From Volcano

An archaeological discovery which
promises to be of the utmost sig
nificance-footprints in rock of per-
sons fleeing from volcanic eruption
1000 to 5000 years ago-haS just
been made by an archeologist of the
Carnegie Institution of Washington
on the outskirts of the city of
Managua in Nicaragua.
Aside from the dramatic story
told by these footprints, they con-
stitute the earliest known evidence
Of human beings in Central America,
where the most advanced of New
World cultures were to arise many
centuries later.
The prints were made in layer
Of volcanic mud while it still was
soft, probably within a few hours
at the most after it covered the
area. There is some evidence that
cinders from an eruption of a near
by volcano were raining on the heads
of the people as they fled.
Footprints Are Authentic.
The circumstances are such that
there can be no question of the
authenticity of the footprints. They
could not be artifacts, carved in the
rock.
The site was found early this VIM
ter by F. B. Richardson of the Car
negie Institution staff and was in
spected shortly afterWard by DR.. A.
V. Kidder, head of the institutions
department of historical research.
Impressed by the significance of the
discovery, DR.. Kidder asked DR..
Howell Williams, volcano expert of
the University of California, to fly
to Managua. His report on the ma
ture of the site and the probable
antiquity of the footprints has just
been made.
AS long ago at 1873 DR.. Earl
Flint, a collector for the Peabody
Museum of Harvard University
found similar footprints in quarry
near Managua and collected sew
eral samples which now are in
museums throughout the world. At
that time, however, most archeol-
ogists disbelieved strongly in the
antiquity of man in the New World,
and DR.. Flint's finds were not fol-
lowed up. Mr. Richardson, how
ever, had read the reports, and
when he went to Nicaragua on an
other archaeological project he made
routine inquiries regarding the foot
prints.
Excavations Were Started.
Workmen at stone quarry in
the western outskirts of the city
told him that they occasionally
found just such footprints in the
rock. just about that time a
quarry employee actually uncov-
cred some of them. Mr.. Richard
son Immediately started series OF
excavations which resulted in un-
covering a large number of prints
Over deposit of volcanic ash OF
unknown age and depth there was
laid down about 6 inches of vol
canic mud in which the footprints
had been made. Above this stratum
there had been accumulated sew
eral subsequent deposits of vol
canic origin to total depth of
about feet. Above this was earth
gathered from the last volcanic ac-
tivity. Here were found pottery
several large, boot-shaped burial
urns and other human artifacts
which later may prove of consider
able significance in dating the site.
The footprints were found in a
quarry which had been cut into the
side of a large drainage ditch run
ming from extensive agricultural
lands south of the railroad track
and draining into Lake Managua
about 500 yards to the north.
Realizing that the floods of the
next rainy season, now about due,
would cover the exposed prints with
silt and perhaps damage them, Mr..