It’s been 27 years since geologist David Roberts recognized a few of the oldest footprints of our species ever found. The trackway of three footprints was discovered on the floor of a cemented sand dune (referred to as an aeolianite) close to Langebaan on South Africa’s west coast. The tracks had been later dated to 117,000 years and had been attributed to Homo sapiens; they turned popularly often called “Eve’s footprints”.
They had been airlifted to Cape City, the place they’re housed within the Iziko South Africa Museum. A reproduction is on exhibit on the Geelbek Customer Centre within the West Coast Nationwide Park. There was worldwide debate since then about whether or not or not “Eve’s footprints” actually had been human tracks, on account of their comparatively poor stage of preservation.
No additional fossilised human tracks have been found within the space since then – however a latest discover by our analysis workforce, additionally close to Langebaan, modifications this.
These two tracks, found in what’s right this moment the ceiling of a small cave, are a outstanding discover for 3 causes. The primary is that trendy graffiti on aeolianite surfaces within the space round Langebaan space is prolific. Actually, graffiti was current simply inches away from “Eve’s footprints”. A possible fossilised human tracksite on the Cape south coast close to Knysna, greater than 400 km to the east, was defaced by graffiti earlier than it might be scientifically assessed.
We don’t know exactly when this occurred, however we all know that the graffiti “artists” received to it earlier than we did. It’s due to this fact attainable that fossil tracksites round Langebaan are uncommon as a result of graffiti has obscured them.
The second motive is that human tracks registered in aeolianites are uncommon at a world stage. The vast majority of such tracks are present in cave ground deposits or volcanic ash sediments; the South African websites, which had been made on dunes and seashores, are an exception. And the third is that our discover, made inside kilometres of these Roberts found in 1995, helps his conclusion {that a} human ancestor left “Eve’s footprints”.
The tracks
Rudolf Hattingh, a speleologist – he research caves – and member of our analysis workforce, discovered the 2 tracks on the small cave’s ceiling whereas out exploring for caves.
They’re pure casts, representing the sediment which crammed within the authentic tracks. The unique dune floor on which the tracks had been made has been eroded away, and is not evident. They’re most likely of roughly the identical age as “Eve’s Footprints”, and due to this fact from the Late Pleistocene epoch, which started about 126,000 years in the past.
CHARLES HELM
Learn extra:
Graffiti threatens valuable proof of historical life on South Africa’s coast
The 2 tracks have roughly the identical orientation, and are are an applicable distance aside (49 cm) for a strolling human, which means that they kind a brief trackway section. They’re friable, susceptible even to mild contact, and their margins aren’t crisply outlined – it’s attainable that extra element might need been current if that they had been found earlier.
Observe size is roughly 28 cm (though this may occasionally embody a heel drag), width is 13 cm, and depth is 3-4 cm. One of many tracks incorporates a attainable define of a hallux (massive toe). Each tracks present an outward convexity, suggesting the presence of a medial arch. These options are all broadly according to a human trackmaker strolling on a dry, non-cohesive dune floor.
We might have most well-liked an extended trackway and tracks which confirmed extra anatomical element morphology. Nonetheless, the identification of latest possible human tracks at Langebaan, freed from graffiti, continues to be a big discover. Though extinct members of our genus like Homo naledi and Homo helmei can’t be fully excluded, we consider the chances are high that these tracks, like “Eve’s Footprints”, had been made by certainly one of our direct Homo sapiens ancestors.
Potential for extra?
Though the main target of our work is on the Cape south coast, not the west coast, this discovery is a spur to maintain exploring within the Langebaan space, particularly within the few remaining areas which can be freed from graffiti.
Learn extra:
New fossil tracks belonging to human ancestors present in South Africa
It additionally evokes us to be vigilant for cliff-collapse occasions which can create new aeolianite exposures on this shoreline. Fossil tracks are evocative: they will readily transport us again in time and lead us suppose what it will need to have been prefer to stroll on a dune greater than 100,000 years in the past, close to what’s right this moment often called Langebaan.
