Obviously there is some kind of mistake here. What is not discussed is the state of the Earth 290 million years ago in terms of geology and atmospherics. I am not sure the Earth could support modern human life at that time, and it is very unlikely that a modern human could survive all the cataclysmic changes the Earth has undergone over 290 million years.
The point I am making is that it is not enough to simply look at the possible evolution of man in that amount of time, it is also important to look at the evolution of the Earth itself as well, and to consider whether or not the Earth was able to support human life over that vast amount of time.
It is interesting though, to consider that if true, this human may have observed a blue Mars. The NASA scientists with their rovers now believe that Mars once had flowing oceans and rivers and had an atmosphere similar to that of Earth.
To me, the only mystery here is how the dating of the footprint is coming up wrong. Because the result is impossible. Obviously, someone is making a mistake somewhere. It is wrong to obsess on the impossible conclusion. It is much more productive to try to figure out what mistake led to the impossible conclusion.
