These 3.7 million year old footprints are those of hominids

In 1976, in Laetoli (Tanzania), fossilized footprints dating from 3.7 million years ago were discovered by paleontologist Mary Leakey and her team.

They were first attributed to a species of hominids, the place containing many remains similar to those of

Lucy, reports

.

Eventually, it had been suggested that it was more the tracks of a young bear on its two paws.

But recently Ellison McNutt, a professor at Ohio University, wanted to question those fingerprints again.

"Given the growing evidence for species diversity and locomotion in hominid fossils over the past thirty years, these unusual footprints deserved another look," she explained.

With an international team, new analyzes were thus carried out and their results were published on December 1 in the journal

.

Long attributed to a bear, these footprints reveal the full diversity of bipedalism in hominids and raise many questions.

https://t.co/zPnkGTPlOr

- National Geographic (@NatGeoFR) December 5, 2021

Comparative traces

By comparing these traces with those of a black bear and a chimpanzee, they would have shown that this fossil could only come from a human ancestor. "They [the bears] are incapable of having a process similar to that of the Site A footprints," Jeremy DeSilva, co-author of the study, said in a statement. The chimpanzees are said to have too thin a heel to match the footprints of the site.

The teams were also able to answer the first doubts that had at the time called into question the original interpretation.

“Although humans don't usually walk like this, this movement can occur when someone is trying to restore their balance,” said Ellison McNutt.

The species which would have produced these traces would however not be

but another species of Australopithecus still unknown and which would have lived at the same time.

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