Prehistoric people 'dragged' belongings around, say researchers

Transport known as travois were thought to have been used by early settlers in North America

A new study reveals more about how prehistoric people may have transported their stuff twenty thousand years ago.

A research team, led by Bournemouth University, has discovered drag-marks alongside human footprints at White Sands Park in New Mexico, in the United States.

They believe these marks were caused by humans dragging vehicles made from wooden poles.

The reason this is a big deal is it suggests that it was humans who moved heavy loads, not animals, at this time.

The drag marks were discovered at the White Sands National Park in New Mexico

Footprints and markings in the sand at the national park in New Mexico are thought to date back as far as 23,000 years ago, say Bournemouth University.

"We know that our earliest ancestors must have used some form of transport to carry their possessions as they migrated around the world, but evidence in the form of wooden vehicles has rotted away," said Professor Matthew Bennett who led the study.

"These drag-marks give us the first indication of how they moved heavy and bulky loads around before wheeled vehicles existed," he explained.

In a press release, Bournemouth University says that Indigenous People involved with this research at White Sands National Park also agree with this theory.

The team decided to recreate their own travois which they tested out on beaches in Dorset in the UK, and Maine in the US

These methods of transport are known as travois.

Modern historians know about travois from accounts by First Nation North Americans.

To see if their theory made sense in practice, the researchers put together their very own travois made out of wooden poles.

They dragged the vehicles along the coasts of Poole Harbour in Dorset, and Maine in the USA.

"In our experiments, our footprints and lines in the mud from the poles had the same appearance as the fossilised examples that we found in New Mexico," Professor Bennett explained.

The team say discoveries like this helps us better understand "the lives of the first people to settle in the Americas" and that learning more about how they got around is "vital to being able to tell their story".