In a fascinating discovery shedding light on human history and our ancestors, archaeologists have unearthed multiple human footprints on a Moroccan beach dating back 90,000 years. The team details their findings in a publication in the journal Scientific Reports.
The rarity of finding human footprints from thousands of years ago is due to their fleeting nature. However, sometimes footprints are preserved when covered in hardened sediment and as this covering fades away, the prints are revealed over time. In this instance, the footprints were found in a rocky area along the Moroccan coastline initially covered with sand.
As is often the case with archaeological discoveries, these footprints were stumbled upon by chance. While researching rocks near the ocean, the team noticed a depression in a nearby sand patch. Upon closer inspection, additional indentations were identified as human footprints.
Scientist Mounsef Sedrati, who led the research team, emphasised that this discovery proves Homo sapiens walked on the sloping beaches thousands of years ago. “We found these marks at a time when the tide was low in the sea and our team had gone down to the very bottom. We were surprised to receive the first print. At first, we didn’t believe it was a footprint, but then we found more parts of the trackway. We used luminescence dating to determine how old the footprints were,” he said.
The discovery provided insight into 85 footprints found on two pathways attributed to at least five Ice Age individuals, spanning from toddlers to teenagers to adults. The research team hypothesised that preservation was influenced by various factors, including the beach’s proximity to the sea, the composition of the silt, tides and potentially other unidentified occurrences. The purpose of the gathering on the beach and the activities of these people remain unclear. Possibilities range from searching for food to leisurely activities. It’s also plausible that they were merely passing through and found a beach route to be the most straightforward.
This remarkable find not only offers a glimpse into our ancient past but also raises questions about the activities and behaviours of our ancestors on the Moroccan shores.
Comments
0 comment