Episode #057: Fossil Footprints and Digging for Arrowheads

After a brief sun probe update we read a short article on weird spacewhale sounds coming from a moon of Saturn, which sort of makes sense because the moon is covered in water but is still pretty weird because the water is all ice. 

We then spend the next few segments describing our most recent SnakeBros SnakeForce Field Trip where we drank hundreds of beers in a river named after the devil, found lots of amazing ancient artifacts and dozens of world-class fossil footprints, located ancient beach sand in the middle of the desert, ate tons of tacos and pancakes, and destroyed an innocent cloud with mind bullets. The mysteries we saw in the field lead us into a conversation about the larger mysteries of human habitation in the Americas, ranging from the controversial Huyatlaco site in Mexico to strange carved stones found in the northeastern U.S. Enjoy! Note: The following images are screenshots of the actual photos, which was done to mask the geolocation data in order to protect the landowner's privacy.  Note 2: The stock iPhone podcast app does not display images. iPhone users should use the following link to see the images: Episode 57 webpage

This is one of the best sets of hominid prints

 

The "mine shelter". This is taken from across the canyon; the grassy area beneath the overhang is the ancient scree of gravel sliding down the hill from the shelter. Just like mine tailings of modern mines.

 

 

 

SnakeBros Cave Case - All the artifacts we found while digging

Note the Neanderthal print outline, top center...

...now compare it to this print

 

Look at the center print, labeled Homo Erectus...see how the big toe is prominent while the other toes are missing....and the age given, 1.5 million years

....now compare that to this print...narrow profile, big toe prominent....

 

....and another one, same profile, right foot instead of left

 

....and another, right foot   This print is degraded by water erosion , but is still recognizable as a hominid print

 

Perhaps an animal print? Or a degraded human print, very small, wearing some kind of footgear

 

This looks like a very large human print, angled to the left, with a smaller print on its right side, angled right

 

Degraded but still visible, size normal for a human print

 

The lighter is next to a fairly clear print, notice all the degraded imprints around it

 

Prints and toe marks

 

I think this guy slipped a bit

 

Two prints side by side, right one larger than the left. Again note all the imprints around them, particularly the print on the lower right

 

Lots of prints, toes are clear in most of them

 

Very clear set of toe marks from a right foot. Forgot to place lighter on this one, dammit Large foot. Toe prints.  

Small foot. Toe prints.   This and the following two images are of very similar large prints of similar depth and size, but I have no idea what they are

 

 

 

Mammoth? Or some other very large animal. 

 

Another mammoth-ish print.

 

If this is a print, it is enormous. Forgot lighter, but the print was at least a yard long

 

Big print, some animal   The Hominid Path

 

The whole field of prints. Note the definite walking pattern of the large circular prints heading away from the camera. Note that they continue underneath the hill to the right, because it wasn't there at the time the prints were made

 

Incredibly deep, absolutely enormous print. Note the lighter inside the print to upper left

 

For comparison, here is a huge sauropod print from Australia

Possible tail swipe between unidentified, degraded prints

 

What looks like fossil bone protruding from the solid rock

A distant view of the shelter Russ hiked to

 

A closer view of the shelter, from the base of the hill it was on

 

The "giant coral brain" ceiling inside the shelter

 

On the left is the fossil found in the shelter, possibly of an ancient giant version of the Gastropod shell on the right.

Beach sand from inside the shelter  

 

Lighter inside a curve of petrified bark

 

More petrified bark or wood stuck to the side of a large boulder

 

Petrified wood protruding from stone

Kyle walking along the wall where the rock paintings are in the mine shelter

 

Faint rock painting marks

 

Very faint but still visible

 

Almost looks like some kind of script. NONSENSE SIR THAT IS ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLY RIDICULOUS HOW ABSOLUTELY DARE YOU SIR     SnakeBros SnakeForce GO!!