November 28, 2024
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Fossil footprints suggest two early human species crossed paths within hours
Two fossil sets of early hominin footprints were created within hours of each other about 1.5 million years ago, researchers suggest
Scientists believe the footprints were made by someone else. Paranthropus boisei Individual.
The footprints of two different ancient primate species related to humans, one of which was an ancestor of humans, were likely left within hours of each other along the shores of a lake in present-day Kenya. The surprising discovery of these fossilized footsteps confirms that these two human species lived side by side, and provides insight into how they cooperated and competed. Masu.
“At the time of the excavation, we didn’t know there were two species,” said Kevin Hatala, a paleoanthropologist at Chatham University and lead author of the footprint study published Thursday. science. “It wasn’t until after months of analysis and eliminating all possible alternative explanations that we said, ‘We think there’s something special here, something we’ve never seen before.’ .”
The fossil footprints were discovered in 2021 during an excavation near Lake Turkana in Kenya. Over the decades, the area surrounding the lake has produced thousands of fossils. Among them are fossils belonging to our own genus. homoIt is extremely important for scientific understanding of human evolution. The dozens of footprints discovered in 2021 were created in soft sediment near a lake about 1.5 million years ago, then covered with other sediment and eventually fossilized.
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Hatala, an expert on the evolution of the human foot, examined the footprints and found that while some resembled those of modern humans, many others appeared more primitive. Using three-dimensional images, he and his colleagues determined that the modern-looking footprints were made by individuals of the species. homo erectus, They lived between 1.89 million and 110,000 years ago and were the ancestors of modern humans.
But others were made by members of the species Paranthropus boisei– Upright hominins (extinct hominin ancestors and their relatives) who lived between 2.3 and 1.2 million years ago. This species is homo Although it was a genus, it was not a direct ancestor of humans.
Hatala said examination of fossilized deposits suggests the footprints were made within hours of each other. At this time, the family group H. erectus and P.Boisei He said both men lived near a lake and scavenged for dead animal meat and collected edible plants in the same area.
This study is not the first to suggest that H. erectus and P.Boisei They coexisted. And other hominid species, including: homo habilis and Australopithecus sediba, They may also have lived in parts of Africa at the time.
However, this H. erectus and P.Boisei They lived in the same place at the same time and likely used the same natural resources for food, Hatala said. “These are definitely species that were present in the landscape at the same time and were probably aware of each other’s presence,” he explains. But, he added, “I think there are open questions about how they interacted with each other.” “They may have had some kind of low-level competition…or they may have cooperated with each other. We don’t know.”
Cynthia Lutkus Pierce, a geologist at Appalachian State University who was not involved in the new study, calls it “fascinating and exciting.” She says footprints are often preserved along the edges of ancient lakes, offering glimpses of behavior that are difficult to glean from bones and stone tools.
Additionally, Brianna Poviner, a paleoanthropologist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, is researching ancient human footprints in Tanzania with Lutkus Pierce, and although she was not involved in this research, she also analyzed footprints. points out that it is important for the paper. “What we lack in time machines, fossil footprints are the next best way to capture snapshots of the daily lives of our ancestors,” she says.
