World's Said-To-Be Oldest Footprints Are Found
Three sets of individual footprints have been discovered, which were once
thought to not have been of this world, since they often appeared along an ashen slope of rock. These tracks were found along southern Italy's Roccamonfina volcano region, which is better known to locals as "devils' trails", and are thought to be between 325,000 and 385,000 years old.
These footprints are the most recent discovery, made by Paolo Mietto of the
University of Padua, Italy. Though they're said to be thought of, as being
the world's oldest footprints, there are much even older footprints on record.
But what makes these fossils special is the fact that they tell a story. This
story is of an ancient trek, which was made by the owners of the footsteps,
which went down the very steep side of the volcano long ago.
It has been determined by researchers, that said footprints in question, were
left behind by three early ancestors who walked upright. The 56 footprints
were under 8 incehs in length, and belonged to a class of people, who were
under 5 feet tall in height.
Though the famed prints were once thought to have been made by animals. This
assumption was quickly proved false by scientists, who have concluded without
a doubt, that they are definitely of human origin alone.
The exact age of the tracks are yet to be confirmed, but they are thought to
belong to the early classification of man, which is identified as being
Homo heidelbergensis or Homo erectus. Homo heidelbergensis is said to be
the ancestor of the Neanderthal Man, who lived througout Europe, and of
modern man called Homo sapiens in Africa.
thought to not have been of this world, since they often appeared along an ashen slope of rock. These tracks were found along southern Italy's Roccamonfina volcano region, which is better known to locals as "devils' trails", and are thought to be between 325,000 and 385,000 years old.
These footprints are the most recent discovery, made by Paolo Mietto of the
University of Padua, Italy. Though they're said to be thought of, as being
the world's oldest footprints, there are much even older footprints on record.
But what makes these fossils special is the fact that they tell a story. This
story is of an ancient trek, which was made by the owners of the footsteps,
which went down the very steep side of the volcano long ago.
It has been determined by researchers, that said footprints in question, were
left behind by three early ancestors who walked upright. The 56 footprints
were under 8 incehs in length, and belonged to a class of people, who were
under 5 feet tall in height.
Though the famed prints were once thought to have been made by animals. This
assumption was quickly proved false by scientists, who have concluded without
a doubt, that they are definitely of human origin alone.
The exact age of the tracks are yet to be confirmed, but they are thought to
belong to the early classification of man, which is identified as being
Homo heidelbergensis or Homo erectus. Homo heidelbergensis is said to be
the ancestor of the Neanderthal Man, who lived througout Europe, and of
modern man called Homo sapiens in Africa.
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