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Scientists believe they have discovered the earliest human footprints – traces left by a family of extinct humans 300,000 years ago.
The immaculately preserved impressions of a small family of “Heidelberg people,” a human species long since extinct, were discovered in Germany.
This subspecies of archaic humans, fOriginally known as Homo heidelbergensis, they were the first to build homes and hunt large animals, but disappeared from Earth about 28,000 years ago — and experts say it was because of climate change.
The tracks were discovered in the Paleolithic complex of Schöningen in Lower Saxony, along with ancient animal impressions, including the region’s first evidence of elephants.
Scientists believe they have discovered the earliest human footprints left 300,000 years ago by a family of extinct humans
The discovery was made by scientists from the University of Tübingen (SHEP), who pieced together the ancient gems found at the site.
‘In an open birch and pine forest overgrown with grass, there is a lake several kilometers long and several hundred meters wide. Herds of elephants, rhinoceroses and even-toed ungulates flock to the muddy banks to drink and bathe. announcement.
‘In the middle of this landscape stands a nuclear family of the ‘Heidelberg people’.
The scientists assigned two of the three human tracks in Schöningen to young individuals who used the lake and its resources in a small mixed age group.
The first author of the study, Dr Flavio Altamura, said: ‘Depending on the season, there were plants, fruits, leaves, shoots and mushrooms available around the lake.
‘Our findings confirm that the extinct human species lived on the banks of lakes or rivers with shallow water.
‘This is also known from other sites with hominin footprints from the Lower and Middle Pleistocene.
“The footprints of children and young people make it more of a family outing than a group of adult hunters.”
Perfectly preserved prints of a small family of “Heidelberg people,” a human species long since extinct, were discovered in Germany.
In addition to the human tracks, the team analyzed a series of elephant tracks belonging to the extinct species Palaeoloxodon antiquus: a straight-tusked elephant that was the largest land animal at the time, with adult males weighing up to 13 tons.
Imprints of an ancient rhinoceros were also found at the site
In addition to the human tracks, the team analyzed a series of elephant tracks belonging to the extinct species Palaeoloxodon antiquus: a straight-tusked elephant that was the largest land animal at the time, with adult males weighing up to 13 tons.
D Jordi Serangeli, head of the Schöningen excavation, said: ‘The elephant tracks we discovered in Schöningen reach a remarkable length of 55 centimetres.
‘In some cases we also found wood fragments in the tracks the animals had pressed into the ground, which was soft at the time.
“One track also comes from a rhinoceros – Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis or Stephanorhinus hemitoechus – and is the first footprint of this species from the Pleistocene to be found in Europe.”
In 2021, scientists discovered a series of 23,000-year-old human footprints discovered in New Mexico as the earliest evidence of human activity in the Americas, 10,000 years earlier than previously believed
In 2021, scientists discovered a set of 23,000-year-old human footprints discovered in New Mexico as the earliest evidence of human activity in the Americas, 10,000 years earlier than previously believed.
British and American archaeologists discovered the prints in soft mud adjacent to Alkali Flat, a dry bed of White Sands National Park in southern New Mexico.
Using radiocarbon dating of seed layers above and below the tracks, experts from the US Geological Survey dated the footprints as if they were made for at least 2,000 years
The oldest traces date from about 23,000 years ago, which corresponds to the Last Glacial Maximum, when ice sheets covered much of North America and sea levels were about 120 meters lower than today.
For decades, it’s been widely believed that Homo sapiens first entered North America between 13,000 and 16,000 years ago — after the melting of the North American ice sheets opened up migration routes and much later than co-author Sally Reynolds and her colleagues suggest.
Few archaeologists have claimed reliable evidence for human habitation older than about 16,000 years.
Additional radiocarbon dates of sediment, animal bone and charcoal samples begin even earlier — about 33,000 years ago — but some critics questioned whether humans actually made the rock samples.