Posted on 01/31/2024 6:21:07 PM PST by nickcarraway
In 2022, researchers stumbled upon the footprint site near the northern tip of North Africa while examining boulders at a nearby pocket beach.
A team of archaeologists have unveiled the discovery of the oldest human footprints ever recorded in North Africa and the southern Mediterranean.
The footprints, dating back an astonishing 90,000 years, were found on a beach in Larache, Morocco, by a multinational team led by Moncef Essedrati, a research professor and laboratory director at the French University of Southern Brittany.
"Between tides, I said to my team that we should go north to explore another beach," Essedrati told Live Science.
"We were surprised to find the first print. At first, we weren't convinced it was a footprint, but then we found more of the trackway."
Take a look inside the newly reopened Ancient Greek palace where Alexander the Great was crowned Archaeologists unearth 4500-year-old Ancient Egyptian tomb with astonishing treasures How the team unravelled the ancient footprints Various images showing the footprints being recorded on Larache's archaeological site Various images showing the footprints being recorded on Larache's archaeological siteCredit: EBU Using optically stimulated luminescence dating, a cutting-edge method that establishes the last exposure of specific minerals to heat or sunlight, Essedrati's team were able to determine that approximately 90,000 years ago, a multigenerational group of Homo sapiens walked on the gently sloped beach.
Published in the journal Nature, the findings shed light on a collection of 85 footprints across two trails, attributed to at least five ice age humans, spanning various age groups from children and teenagers to adults.
Despite ongoing erosion threatening the Larache archaeological site's longevity, the footprints were likely preserved due to the favourable beach layout, fair-weather wave conditions, and tidal reach.
The researchers now aim to uncover why the ice age group were on the beach through further analysis, including the exploration of various caves along Larache's southern coastline.
Now, did the kids on the beach, built sand CAVES back then? Asking for a friend.
Gambling?
In Og’s Place?
I’m shocked....................
I only watch such movies for the dinosaurs. Really! Honest! Cross my heart! Wore out a VCR tape rewinding and rewinding.
Preserved in the ricks for 90,000 years.
Must have been a popular place.
I see that Miss Fezzy Britches was there as well.
Probably why all the attention in the first place.
There are real scientists who are experts in identifying footprints, handprints, etc-I’m pretty sure that the defining characteristics of a human footprint haven’t changed in 90,000 years...
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