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! Brothers of the Serpent Episode 057 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, dammitLarge 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