Did they meet? They find, for the first time, footprints of two hominins of different species crossing each other on the shores of a lake

About a million and a half years ago, in a warm African savannah and near the shore of what is now Lake Turkana, in Kenya, two completely different species of hominins crossed paths while searching for food. Both, in fact, left their footprints in the mud, and scientists’ analyzes have determined that the two traces were left almost at the same time. Which, of course, does not necessarily mean that the footprints were left exactly in the same place. instant, but according to an article recently published in ‘Science’, yes with just a few hours of difference. The set, therefore, represents the first example of hominin footprints of different species left in the same place and time. That is to say, both species lived at the same time, occupied the same territory and most likely coincided on more than one occasion in that ancient African landscape. Standard Related News Yes Jeremy DeSilva, anthropologist: «Humans are slow and weak. Only altruism prevented our extinction» Judith de JorgeThe discovery, carried out by a team of researchers led by Kevin Hatala, an expert in hominin footprints at the University of Pittsburgh, will provide valuable information to our evolutionary history and the way in which the different human species cooperated, or perhaps competed, at the dawn of our history. According to the study, the footprints were left by Homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei, the two most common human species in the Pleistocene. Almost at the same time “Their presence in the same territory and very close in time,” says Craig Feibel, from Rutgers University and co-author of the article – places the two species on the margin of a lake, using the same habitat. Feibel, who has been researching in northern Kenya since 1981, established that the footprints, which were formed in the same place of soft sediments, were left 1.5 million years ago and with a maximum difference of a few hours. According to Faibel, if these two hominins did not interbreed, they did pass through the same place at almost the same time. Hatala, for his part, highlights the fact that, although fossil bones remain the main way to study human evolution, The footprints are revealing a whole series of fascinating details about the evolution of the anatomy, locomotion and even the behavior of our most distant ancestors. “Fossil footprints,” explains the researcher, who has been working with hominin footprints since 2012- are interesting because they are like snapshots that give life to our fossil relatives. With this type of data, we can see what living individuals were like millions of years ago, how they moved through their environments, and how they eventually interacted with each other, or even with other animals. And that’s something we can’t get from bones or stone tools.”First demonstrationThe team, explains Rebecca Feibel, program director at the National Science Foundation who helped fund this part of the research, “used technologies cutting-edge 3D imaging to create a completely new way of looking at footprints, helping us understand human evolution and the roles of cooperation and competition in shaping our evolutionary journey. raises the hypothesis that these two human species (Homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei) coexisted. Homo erectus, in fact, which is a direct ancestor of today’s humans, survived for another million years. Something that Paranthropus boisei did not achieve, as it became extinct in the following hundreds of thousands of years without scientists knowing exactly why. That is why this set of footprints is so important. Unlike bones, these fossil traces cannot be moved by water or a predator, but always remain in the same place, and offer evidence of specific behaviors. MORE INFORMATION news Yes The Dmanisi child shows that humans do not we were always born defenseless news Yes Gravity continues to pay attention to Einstein 120 years later «And this discovery – concludes Feibel – proves beyond any doubt that not only one, but two different hominids walked on the same surface, literally a few hours apart. The idea that they lived at the same time may not be a surprise. But this is the first time it has been demonstrated.

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