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Egypt discovers what may be oldest human footprint
Yahoo ^
| Mon Aug 20
| Yahoo news
Posted on 08/20/2007 4:06:14 PM PDT by fanfan
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian archaeologists have found what they said could be the oldest human footprint in history in the country's western desert, the Arab country's antiquities' chief said on Monday.
"This could go back about two million years," said Zahi Hawass, the secretary general of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities. "It could be the most important discovery in Egypt," he told Reuters.
Archaeologists found the footprint, imprinted on mud and then hardened into rock, while exploring a prehistoric site in Siwa, a desert oasis.
Scientists are using carbon tests on plants found in the rock to determine its exact age, Hawass said.
Khaled Saad, the director of prehistory at the council, said that based on the age of the rock where the footprint was found, it could date back even further than the renowned 3-million year-old fossil Lucy, the partial skeleton of an ape-man, found in Ethiopia in 1974.
Most archaeological interest in Egypt is focused on the time of the pharaohs.
Previously, the earliest human archaeological evidence from Egypt dated back around 200,000 years, Saad said.
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: ancientegypt; archaeology; catastrophism; crevo; godsgravesglyphs
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1
posted on
08/20/2007 4:06:16 PM PDT
by
fanfan
To: blam
2
posted on
08/20/2007 4:07:50 PM PDT
by
fanfan
("We don't start fights my friends, but we finish them, and never leave until our work is done."PMSH)
To: fanfan
If male, refused to ask for directions, if female, complaining about dirty cave.
Didn’t the finger painting in the French ice caves dating back some 20 million years not have footprints?
3
posted on
08/20/2007 4:10:21 PM PDT
by
edcoil
(Reality doesn't say much - doesn't need too)
To: fanfan
“Foot prints?”
Yep, and there’s a PF Flyer logo there too.
4
posted on
08/20/2007 4:11:42 PM PDT
by
vetsvette
(Bring Him Back)
To: fanfan
2 million years would not have been anything “human”.
Even Australopithecus was just a standing ape.
5
posted on
08/20/2007 4:12:26 PM PDT
by
Wiseghy
("You want to break this army? Then break your word to it.")
To: fanfan
First they say...
"This could go back about two million years," said Zahi Hawass
Then they say...
...it could date back even further than the renowned 3-million year-old fossil Lucy
They contradict themselves. Have they been taking lessons from Kerry?
6
posted on
08/20/2007 4:14:31 PM PDT
by
G8 Diplomat
(From my fist to Harry Reid's face)
To: Wiseghy
2 million years would not have been anything “human”.So then, we can't rule out Helen Thomas at this point.
To: edcoil
Most of the caves with paintings don’t have foot prints.
Just imagine how bizarre we might look to future archaeologists, 500 or 1000 years from now.
:-)
(Oh no! I didn’t turn this into a creation/evolution thread, did I?)
8
posted on
08/20/2007 4:16:05 PM PDT
by
fanfan
("We don't start fights my friends, but we finish them, and never leave until our work is done."PMSH)
To: G8 Diplomat
And you find this to be a larger error than the reporter’s suggestion that scientists will carbon date this find?
9
posted on
08/20/2007 4:16:40 PM PDT
by
Diplomat
To: edcoil
Didnt the finger painting in the French ice caves dating back some 20 million years not have footprints?
Humans haven't been on the planet for 20 million years. Even Australopithicus only goes back about 5 million.
10
posted on
08/20/2007 4:18:10 PM PDT
by
G8 Diplomat
(From my fist to Harry Reid's face)
To: Coyoteman
11
posted on
08/20/2007 4:18:32 PM PDT
by
ASA Vet
To: fanfan
Nope, so far it’s still a semi-science tread.
12
posted on
08/20/2007 4:21:11 PM PDT
by
ASA Vet
To: edcoil; fanfan
The really scary thing not mentioned is they found the 2nd oldest footprint in Israel.
The first was a left foot, the secong a right foot
And they were both REALLY BIG
13
posted on
08/20/2007 4:21:36 PM PDT
by
BOBTHENAILER
(One by one, in small groups or in whole armies, we don't care how we do it, but we're gonna getcha)
To: Diplomat
60,000 years is the maximum for carbon dating so it is probably a mistake in the article
To: fanfan
Scientists are using carbon tests on plants found in the rock to determine its exact age, Hawass said. Hawass knows better. This gives geology a bad name.
15
posted on
08/20/2007 4:29:22 PM PDT
by
RightWhale
(It's Brecht's donkey, not mine)
To: fanfan
[oldest human footprint in history]
Algore was immediately notified and asked “Was it carbon”?
16
posted on
08/20/2007 4:30:21 PM PDT
by
RetSignman
(DEMSM: "If you tell a big enough lie, frequently enough, it becomes the truth")
To: camerakid400
Hawass did the count for the Million Man March years ago before he got his present position of authority in Egyptology.
17
posted on
08/20/2007 4:30:39 PM PDT
by
RightWhale
(It's Brecht's donkey, not mine)
To: Diplomat; Coyoteman
I think they were talking about organic material in the mud, but I don’t think radiocarbon dating goes much further back than 60,000 or 70,000 years. Wikipedia seems to support those dates. Coyoteman is the expert however. Two million years????
18
posted on
08/20/2007 4:33:42 PM PDT
by
JimSEA
To: fanfan
If it's a size 12 Bruno Magli, we might be onto something.
-PJ
19
posted on
08/20/2007 4:35:20 PM PDT
by
Political Junkie Too
(Repeal the 17th amendment -- it's the "Fairness Doctrine" for Congress!)
To: edcoil
painting in the French ice caves They are ordinary rock caves and the paintings might be 30,000 years old give or take.
20
posted on
08/20/2007 4:36:45 PM PDT
by
RightWhale
(It's Brecht's donkey, not mine)
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