It may seem like an awful long time since the Founding Fathers took steps toward creating the United States by signing their names to the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
And 250 years of nationhood is definitely something to celebrate.
Yet the history of the land — and the people who have resided on the vast expanse that became the United States — stretches back much further.
It includes colonial times and the pre-Columbian era with its mosaic of Native American cultures, plus the long-ago days when giant reptiles roamed the Earth and the first humans made their way onto the North American continent across the Bering Land Bridge.
And in southern New Mexico, fossilized footprints in a remote corner of White Sands National Park attest to human movement long before the colonists. Embedded in hardened gypsum soil, the footprints were surrounded by ancient grass seeds radiocarbon dated to between 21,130 and 22,860 years ago.
Both discoveries are part of the rich history behind the place now known as America. (CNN)
ifnottodaywhen.blog 