Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42873862›Full record

ArticleScience advances2026

Humans experienced abrupt environmental changes at White Sands during the Last Glacial Maximum.

Kathleen B Springer, Jeffrey S Pigati, Jessica E Tierney, Jeffrey S Honke, Gonzalo Jiménez-Moreno, David Bustos, Thomas M Urban, Daniel Odess, Edward A Jolie, Alison J Smith and 5 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Science advances, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

15 authors.

Kathleen B SpringerUS Geological Survey, Denver Federal Center, Box 25046, MS 980, Denver, CO 80225, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-2404-0264
Jeffrey S PigatiUS Geological Survey, Denver Federal Center, Box 25046, MS 980, Denver, CO 80225, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-5843-6219
Jessica E TierneyDepartment of Geosciences, The University of Arizona, 1040 E 4th St, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-9080-9289
Jeffrey S HonkeUS Geological Survey, Denver Federal Center, Box 25046, MS 980, Denver, CO 80225, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-4357-9297
Gonzalo Jiménez-MorenoDepartamento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain.ORCID 0000-0001-7185-8686
David BustosNational Park Service, White Sands National Park, P.O. Box 1086, Holloman AFB, NM 88330, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-0309-7632
Thomas M UrbanDepartment of Classics and Cornell Tree Ring Laboratory, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-6246-6717
Daniel OdessUniversity of Alaska Museum of the North, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-2391-8175
Edward A JolieArizona State Museum and School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-3689-243X
Alison J SmithDepartment of Earth Sciences, Kent State University, 325 South Lincoln Street, Kent, OH 44242, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-1261-8943
Abigail J HuntSchool of Life and Environmental Sciences, Bournemouth University, Poole BH12 5BB, UK.ORCID 0009-0008-1940-4589
Patrick J MartinezNational Park Service, White Sands National Park, P.O. Box 1086, Holloman AFB, NM 88330, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-4800-154X
Vincent L SantucciGeologic Resources Division, National Park Service, 1849 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20240, USA.
Sally C ReynoldsSchool of Life and Environmental Sciences, Bournemouth University, Poole BH12 5BB, UK.ORCID 0000-0001-6313-6405
Matthew R BennettSchool of Life and Environmental Sciences, Bournemouth University, Poole BH12 5BB, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-3063-8844

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Expanded excavations at White Sands National Park have unearthed 20 stratigraphic horizons containing in situ human footprints, megafaunal trackways, and linear features created by travois. Advances in radiocarbon dating of conifer pollen, combined with ages of aquatic seeds, refines the chronology of the footprint-bearing sequence to between 23.5 and 21.7 thousand years ago (ka). Biomarker, pollen, and stratigraphic evidence indicate a complete overturning of the environment from a perennial lake to a playa and capture a large aridification episode coincident with Dansgaard-Oeschger event 2 at 23.2 ka, which shrank pluvial Lake Otero and allowed people to traverse the former shoreline area for nearly two millennia. This well-dated and highly resolved paleoclimate record provides compelling evidence that humans in North America experienced marked environmental changes during the Last Glacial Maximum.

Indexed as

EnvironmentSandFossilsHumansPollenRadiometric DatingSand

Identifiers

PMID42873862
PMCPMC13666055

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.