The Nevada Track

Description: An amateur geologist discovered a fossilized imprint of a shoe complete with thread marks and broken heel in Fisher Canyon, Pershing County, Nevada. On October 8, 1922, the American Weekly section of the New York Sunday American ran a prominent feature titled Mystery of the Petrified 'Shoe Sole,' by Dr. W. H. Ballou. Ballou wrote: Some time ago, while he was prospecting for fossils in Nevada, John T. Reid, a distinguished mining engineer and geologist, stopped suddenly and looked down in utter bewilderment and amazement at a rock near his feet. For there, a part of the rock itself, was what seemed to be a human footprint! Closer inspection showed that it was not a mark of a naked foot, but was, apparently, a shoe sole which had been turned into stone. The forepart was missing. But there was the outline of at least two-thirds of it, and around this outline ran a well-defined sewn thread which had, it appeared, attached the welt to the sole. Further on was another line of sewing, and in the center, where the foot would have rested had the object really been a shoe sole, there was an indentation, exactly such as would have been made by the bone of the heel rubbing upon and wearing down the material of which the sole had been made. Thus was found a fossil which is the foremost mystery of science today. For the rock in which it was found is at least 5 million years old.

Mainstream Theory: The "Nevada shoe print" claims are not well supported by the available evidence. The footprint advocates have presumed that the missing portion of the object was very shoe-like in shape, whereas any number of other shapes are possible. They have not demonstrated that the supposed print was ever part of a striding sequence, or that it contains the detailed "stitching" features they assert. The present location of the object is unknown, impeding further study. Judging from the available photographs, the specimen is most likely a broken ironstone concretion, perhaps one that has suffered some erosion. -- Glen J. Kuban

Alternative Theory: The print was inspected by geologists and admitted that the print is authentic and the rock is from the Triasic Period (205 - 250 million years ago). The threads of the print have been examined under a microscope and the twisted threads are visible." While some try to debunk this footprint as a "natural formation" that just happens to "look" like a sandal, that is patently absurd given that the detailed stitching is clearly visible. Once again we have evidence that man existed more than 200 million years ago.