22,000 years ago, humans using travois in what is now New Mexico left tracks alongside their footprints. Without transport tech is there even any macroeconomics?
New research points to the travois — a device usually consisting of two poles joined together to carry a heavy load — as the source of these linear tracks, possibly representing the earliest evidence of transport technology used by humans.
More detail on John Hawks’ blog
“We infer that the child walked in front of the adult who in turn was dragging something that made the linear feature behind them.”