The discovery of human footprints of Homo sapiens in North Africa and the southern Mediterranean, dating back 90 thousand years in the city of Larache in northern Morocco (Al Jazeera)
An international research team led by the University of Southern Brittany in France, in partnership with Moroccan, German and Spanish universities, discovered human footprints of Homo sapiens in North Africa and the southern Mediterranean dating back 90,000 years in the city of Larache in northern Morocco. The results of the discovery were published in the journal “Nature” on January 23 last.
Moncef Al-Sidrati, leader of the research team, said in an interview with “Al Jazeera Net”: “These discovered antiquities join the previously discovered antiquities in a number of regions of Morocco that belong to the same era or earlier. They are evidence of the diversity and richness of Morocco with features of ancient human life and settlement throughout the ages.” .
Footprints discovered in Morocco provide information about the biology, movement, and behavior of individuals in that era of history (Al Jazeera)
Footprints of Homo sapiens
According to a press release issued by the University of Southern Brittany in France, 85 human fingerprints, about 100,000 years old, were discovered, left by at least 5 individuals, including children, teenagers and adults, on a rocky beach in the city of Larache on the northwestern coast of Morocco. These footprints are oriented in a Mainly towards the sea, it gives a stunning picture of what could have been - most likely - a search for marine resources by Homo sapiens who inhabited the coast of the city of Larache about 100 thousand years ago.
Moncef Al-Sidrati points out to Al-Jazeera Net that “these antiquities were found on the southern rocky coast of the city of Larache, Morocco, in July 2022, and consist of paths and individual antiquities distributed on a rocky surface with an area estimated at approximately 2,800 square metres, without the presence of any materials.” "Ancient archaeological or human artifacts. The recently published scientific study was able to confirm that these relics are indeed the oldest known traces of human footprints in North Africa and the southern Mediterranean."
According to the research team, the current discovered footprints provide direct information about the biology, movement, and behavior of the individuals who left them in that era of history in North Africa, and the region in which they were discovered is important in knowing the evolution of hominins.
Research on this discovery took about a year and a half. This scientific study is part of a previous two-year scientific project on the dynamics of the rocky coast in the Larache region. This scientific project was funded by the Interdisciplinary Higher School of Marine Science and Technology (ISblue) and the University of Southern Brittany. "In France.
85 human fingerprints of at least 5 children, teenagers and adults were discovered on a rocky beach in the Moroccan city of Larache (Al Jazeera)
A unique discovery
According to Moncef Essedrati, leader of the research team, this scientific discovery on the coast of Larache is unique and of great importance at the global level for many reasons, including in particular:
Sites containing human footprints in Africa are found only in East and South Africa, and no sites have been discovered to date in North Africa or the southern Mediterranean. Therefore, the Moroccan site in Larache is the first of its kind in the world.
A number of the monuments are in a good state of preservation, which allowed us to conduct this careful study.
The age of the antiquities is something unique. They date back to about 90 thousand years. These people were on the edge of this coast, and we can imagine their physical appearances, sizes, and ages. Unlike archaeological materials that provide information about use, these antiquities provide information about the biology, physical form, and potential activity of these people.
The orientation of the ruins perpendicular to the sea indicates that there is a search for marine resources.
Pictures showing the change in the shape of the footprints of Homo sapiens to understand the characteristics of the foot, such as the rounded heel, the big toe, and the tips of the fingers, as the depth of the foot varies depending on the dimensions of the footprint due to the smallness or length of the foot depending on the age of its owner (Al-Jazeera)
According to the research team, North Africa and Morocco in particular provided the first appearance of “Homo sapiens”, especially with the excavations in Mount Irhoud of the skull of the oldest Homo sapiens in (2017), and the discovery of the ruins of Larache constitutes additional evidence of the importance of North Africa and the Moroccan region in particular. In the evolution of Homo sapiens.
The research team also explained in the scientific study that other new footprints will be discovered as sediments erode on the coast of the city of Larache, and it will be interesting to monitor this erosion to reveal new complementary tracks that can be used to clarify the size of the hominin group, and various caves along the coast should also be explored. South of Larache in search of any fossils or stone traces that may be present.
The site of the discovery of human footprints in Morocco is one of the largest and best preserved sites of the late Pleistocene era in the world (Al Jazeera)
The largest late Pleistocene archaeological site
Dr. Moncef Al-Sidrati points out that the site of the discovery of the footprints of Homo sapiens in Morocco is one of the largest and best preserved sites of the late Pleistocene era in the world, and it is the only documented site in North Africa and the southern Mediterranean, and it provides the distribution of footprints in relation to the shoreline of the movements of multi-generational Homo sapiens. (children, teens and adults) on this site.
He adds, "It is essential to preserve this wonderful heritage site even if it is threatened by sea level rise and storms in the short term." He continued, "Other footprints will be discovered as the sediments erode, and therefore it will be interesting to follow this erosion and create new complementary traces that will allow us to give more details about the group of Homo sapiens that lived along this Larache coast."
This site was discovered during a field measurement mission in July 2022 as part of a scientific research project on the origin and dynamics of the rocks that spread on the southern coast of the city of Larache in northwestern Morocco.
Moncef Al-Sidrati ends his speech to Al-Jazeera Net by saying: “The time has come to present this discovery to the world in the best possible way, with the utmost accuracy and detail, and we are excited to move forward in sharing the rest of this wonderful story, and research in this field must be continued by adopting cooperation.” International and interdisciplinary cooperation such as this study.
Source: Al Jazeera + websites