Footprints from 350,000 B.C

SlowwHand · March 14, 2003, 15:18

Pretty cool.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/884221.asp?0dm=C13IT#BODY

Scientists say Paleolithic humans left behind trails
in Italian volcanic terrain

By Rick Callahan
ASSOCIATED PRESS

March 12 — Italian scientists have discovered three fossilized trails of footprints that early humans left about 350,000 years ago as they descended the treacherous flanks of an active volcano. The scientists believe the footprints are the oldest such prints ever uncovered of Paleolithic humans, who preceded modern humans.

OTHER SCIENTISTS said that while the prints appear well-preserved, they add little to knowledge about human evolution. Instead, they said the tracks’ main value is their sobering testament to three long-ago journeys across a harsh terrain.
One of the footprint trails found in the rugged volcanic terrain in southern Italy zigzags to follow a steep incline’s safest path down. Another includes handprints that an individual left as he or she negotiated a precarious spot, only to slide a short ways down the slope.
“You’re looking at an event that happened 350,000 years ago — someone made an imprint on a surface, walking in a way you’d expect to see someone in these same conditions walk today,” said Owen Lovejoy, an anthropologist at Kent State University who was not involved in the research.
“It adds another cog in the connect between ourselves and our ancestors.”
Who left the 56 footprints isn’t clear. But their discoverers suggest either late Homo erectus or Homo heidelbergensis — two early human species found in Europe during the Paleolithic era.
The findings appear in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature.

PETITE PRINTS
The footprints’ makers were short — just under 5 feet (1.5 meters) tall — based on the prints’ petite size of less than 8 inches (20 centimeters) in length, the researchers said.
Like footprints in wet sand, the trails were left by three individuals who walked across a cooled but recent pyroclastic flow, a dense mixture of rock fragments, ash and gases.
A graphic shows a cutaway of the slope with the footprints known as "devil's trails," as well as handprints where the walker tried to steady himself or herself.
A short time later, the volcano erupted again, blanketing the footprints with a thick layer of ash that preserved them for the ages, said Paolo Mietto of the University of Padua, Italy.
The tracks, the longest of which contains 27 footprints, show that their owners were descending, not climbing, the Roccamonfina volcano complex, north of present-day Naples, he said.
“The idea that these humans were escaping an eruption ... is attractive, and is supported by the fact that all tracks have the same direction, outwards from the volcano’s main crater,” said Mietto, who concedes that such a scenario is only a theory.
The footprints have been dated at between 325,000 and 385,000 years. At that time, Mietto said southern Italy was covered with forests, mountains and the same volcanic ranges still found there. For humans, life in that era was almost certainly brutal and relatively brief.
Local residents had long known of the footprints, and referred collectively to them and fossilized animal tracks also preserved near the volcano as “devils’ trails.”
Two amateur archaeologists told Mietto about the tracks, and he and a colleague visited the site. They soon realized that early humans left them.
Mietto said the prints are unmistakably human in origin, as some preserve the foot’s plantar arch and individual toeprints.

NO SURPRISE

The fact that the early humans who left the tracks walked upright on two feet is no surprise because that ability dates back millions of years, said Tim White, a University of California paleontologist who co-discovered the famous “Lucy” hominid fossil in Ethiopia in 1974.
That nearly complete fossil belongs to a species now known as Australopithecus afarensis, a primate the size of chimpanzee that walked upright.
Footprints left by the same creatures were found in 1977 in Tanzania, imprinted in volcanic mud 3.6 million years old — making them 10 times older than the new discovery. Because the new tracks are comparatively recent, White said they shed no light on human origins.
“The bottom line is that these are interesting curiosities that do not advance our knowledge of what happened when in human evolution,” he said.

Boris Godunov · March 14, 2003, 15:56

Another damned evilutionist lie!!!!

Arrian · March 14, 2003, 16:17

Cool stuff.

-Arrian

DaShi · March 14, 2003, 16:45

There is nothing "cool" about that.

SlowwHand · March 14, 2003, 17:25

That's it? Criticism over terminology, is all you have to say?

Inverse Icarus · March 14, 2003, 18:05

HOW CAN THIS BE? MY FEEBLE BRAINWASHED MIND BELIEVES THE WORLD CANOT POSSIBLY BE OVER 6000 YEARS OLD!

BustaMike · March 14, 2003, 18:12

They are lies, deceptions by the devil to trick man into betraying God, thus the local name for them: "devils' trails."

SlowwHand · March 14, 2003, 18:26

Well, since all you nimrods focus on are the religion bashing...

BustaMike · March 14, 2003, 18:32

It says in the article that the discovery is unimportant. What else is left to do?

SlowwHand · March 14, 2003, 18:39

Unimportant in regard to evolution theories.
As far as time vs. religion, I've always felt time was all relative.

I thought it was interesting reading about the 3 people and their attempt to escape a lava flow.

St Leo · March 14, 2003, 21:55

Human interest stories are boring.

Chemical Ollie · March 14, 2003, 21:58

I made those footprints. The continuos trail in the middle is my d!ck dragging across the ground...

Ned · March 14, 2003, 21:59

I find it interesting that they did not wear shoes.

GePap · March 14, 2003, 22:01

Could be of Neanderthals, since current theory does not have modern Humans coming out of Africa until 200,000 years later.

Urban Ranger · March 14, 2003, 22:58

But Neanderthals were supposed to be quite huge.

red_jon · March 14, 2003, 23:11

Quote:

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Pretty cool.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/884221.asp?0dm=C13IT#BODY
March 12 — Italian scientists have discovered three fossilized trails of footprints that early humans left about 350,000 years ago as they descended the treacherous flanks of an active volcano. The scientists believe the footprints are the oldest such prints ever uncovered of Paleolithic humans, who preceded modern humans.

Wow, stupid people existed back then too.

Joseph · March 14, 2003, 23:27

I believe in the Bible, but not anymore in the 6 days as we know a day (24 hours). God made the Earth and all life as we know life. However what is a day in the life of God. 24 hours or 24 million years. We just don't know or maybe we would not understand if we did know. I think the early writer of the bible put down what they felt early man could understand. Remember man did not know Earth was a planet until when? Somebody else look it up.

St Leo · March 15, 2003, 00:38

Could be of Neanderthals, since current theory does not have modern Humans coming out of Africa until 200,000 years later.

Neanderthals are fairly modern.

My bets are on Homo habilis or some variant thereof.

johncmcleod · March 15, 2003, 02:08

I love evolution, especially human evolution. It has always fascinated me for some reason. If I could travel to any time in our world it would be to visit our ancestors.

MichaeltheGreat · March 15, 2003, 02:47

Quote:

Originally posted by GePap
Could be of Neanderthals, since current theory does not have modern Humans coming out of Africa until 200,000 years later.

Neanderthal footprints are generally distinguishable due to their weight distribution, since they were much heavier (30-50%) on average.

Oerdin · March 15, 2003, 02:58

Am I the only one who gets irked about them calling these early human foot prints? Clearly they weren't made by humans but by hominids (human like apes). Neither Homo erectus or Homo heidelbergensis are modern Homo sapiens.

Berzerker · March 15, 2003, 03:02

Leo - Habilis lived 2 million years ago, these prints must be from Neandertal or it's immediate predecessor. Neandertals were heavily built but not very tall. These could have been women...

Berzerker · March 15, 2003, 03:04

Quote:

Clearly they weren't made by humans but by hominids (human like apes).

"Human like apes"? Sure, more heavily built than modern humans, but "apes"? Neandertals had braincases similar in size to modern humans, about triple the size of apes.

Oerdin · March 15, 2003, 03:13

These weren't Neandertals; the article said they were most likely erectus or heidelbergensis. Hominids are in the genus Homo but the species is different from humans that's why I called them human like but not human.

Ben Kenobi · March 15, 2003, 15:37

Quote:

Another damned evilutionist lie!!!!

0.00001/10 Boris.

I'm surprised to see 3 seperate trolls on this one issue.

All the lures are flashing in the water.

Quote:

The scientists believe the footprints are the oldest such prints ever uncovered of Paleolithic humans, who preceded modern humans.

Very cool slowwhand.

St Leo · March 15, 2003, 19:51

"Human like apes"? Sure, more heavily built than modern humans, but "apes"? Neandertals had braincases similar in size to modern humans, about triple the size of apes.

IMHO, humans are human-like apes.

Berzerker · March 15, 2003, 20:07

Oerdin -

Quote:

These weren't Neandertals; the article said they were most likely erectus or heidelbergensis.

They don't know what hominid made the prints, only the approximate age. Erectus appears to have made it into Europe and Heidelbergensis is considered somewhat of a link between Erectus and Neandertal, but the age of the prints is close to the boundary for Neandertal and Heidelbergensis. Like I said, the prints were probably Neandertal or it's immediate predecessor.

Quote:

Hominids are in the genus Homo but the species is different from humans that's why I called them human like but not human.

Human is the term for modern homo sapien sapiens (us) and the hominids on the branch leading to us.