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General Category => Discover Seattle! => Topic started by: Sportsdude on Feb 27 09 01:03

Title: Earliest human footprints found
Post by: Sportsdude on Feb 27 09 01:03
1.5 million years ago somebody "was here"

(//vny!://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45516000/jpg/_45516169_bennett1hr.jpg)
if that foot print could talk, what would it say?

[p class="first"]The earliest footprints showing evidence of modern human foot anatomy and gait have been unearthed in Kenya. [/p]The 1.5-million-year-old footprints display signs of a pronounced arch and short, aligned toes, in contrast to older footprints. [/p]The size and spacing of the Kenyan markings - attributed to Homo erectus - reflect the height, weight, and walking style of modern humans. [/p]The findings have been published in the journal Science. [!-- E SF --][/p]The footprints are not the oldest belonging to a member of the human lineage. That title belongs to the 3.7 million-year-old Australopithecus afarensis prints found in Laetoli, Tanzania, in 1978. [/p]Those prints, however, showed comparatively flat feet and a significantly higher angle between the big toe and the other toes, representative of a foot still adapted to grasping. [/p]Exactly how that more ape-like foot developed into its modern version has remained unclear. [/p]The fossil record is distinctly lacking in foot and hand bones, according to lead author Matthew Bennett of Bournemouth University, UK. [/p]"The reason is that carnivores like to eat hands and feet," Professor Bennett told BBC News. [/p]"Once the flesh is gone there's a lot of little bones that don't get preserved, so we know very little about the evolution of hands and feet on our ancestors."

[a href="vny!://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7913375.stm"]vny!://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7913375.stm[/a]
 
Title: Re: Earliest human footprints found
Post by: van_guy on Mar 12 09 08:54
very cool SD thanks for posting this.
 
 
 
Title: Re: Earliest human footprints found
Post by: Sportsdude on Mar 12 09 09:36
no probs. glad you found. :)