researchers recently discovered human-like footprints in Crete, Greece. (AP Photo/Representational)
Possibly challenging the established theory that our human ancestors originated from Africa, researchers recently discovered human-like footprints in Crete, Greece. A continent apart, these fossilized prints are approximately 5.7 million years old and resemble a similar big toe — in shape, size and position — and a ‘ball’ in the sole, features that were not found in apes, reported Daily Mail.
Embedded in a type of sedimentary rock that was formed 5.6 million years ago when the Mediterranean Sea had dried out, the footprints are believed to belong to hominins (early members of the human lineage). It is younger than the oldest known fossil hominin Sahelanthropus from Chad, around the same age as those found in Kenya but a million years older than Ardipithecus ramidus from Ethiopia. The footprint is also proportionately shorter than in the Laetoli prints — found in Tanzania (Eastern Africa) 3.7 million years ago and made of ash.
The discovery has led researchers to believe that early hominins could have lived across southeast Europe, in addition to Africa, providing an explanation for the fossils in modern day Crete.
Crete is an island located north of Africa, fueling the theory that hominins could have lived across southeast Europe as well as in Africa (Source: Google Maps)
“What makes this controversial is the age and location of the prints,” Professor Per Ahlberg of Uppsala University, the last author of the study, was quoted as saying by Daily Mail. “This discovery challenges the established narrative of early human evolution head-on and is likely to generate a lot of debate. Whether the human origins research community will accept fossil footprints as conclusive evidence of the presence of hominins in the Miocene of Crete remains to be seen,” he added.
