The footprints of this man are said to be 6 million years old!

In 2017, a International team of researchers Discovered near the village of Trachilos in Crete, it is a soon-to-be-spoken fossil trail. Less than fifty tracks coming from double. Further Mammals Whose legs are the legs of hominins. First dating gave them at least the age of fingerprints Astralopithecus afarensis – Humans in front of the family Lucy – Discoveries in Tanzania are at least 3.5 million years old.

Today, researchers report that geophysical and microbiological methods have helped them to mention a little moreAge of footprints Found in Crete. They will finally be less than 6.05 million years old! This would be the oldest living proof of its existenceHominits. Although different interpretations have been given, researchers believe that no argument today has ruled out the possibility that these traces were left by ancient humans.

Whose are these prints?

These footprints project a “ball” under the forefoot and reveal one Big toe Powerful and short and short side toes. Only one shorter than thatAstrolopathic. A curve is not yet pronounced. And a short heel. Considered unique to hominids along with common characteristics animals. The researchers did not exclude a link Greek Freeberg, A species of animal of the hominid family. A team found him earlier Fossil deposit It is 7.2 million years old, 250 kilometers from Athens. However, the mainland of Greece was annexed to Crete Via Peloponnese.

Researchers also show traces of one Desertification At that distant time, European mammals may have encouraged migration to Africa. Including animals. Then, something known to researchersOrogen Dugenesis, Is thought to have originated in Kenya and preceded the oldest man in Africa, having grown in parallel with a European ancestor. Suffice it to question the discovered theory againThe appearance of men On the African side.

In Crete, footprints challenge human evolution

Mysterious fossil footprints dating back 5.7 million years have been discovered in Crete. According to some researchers, this may be traces of hominins. But, if so, we need to fully reconsider the origin of the genre Homo.

By article Laurent Sacco Released on 04/09/2017

A recent article published in Activities of the Association of Geographers Some were developed by members of a team of international researchers (mainly Polish geologists) Waves In the small world of Archeology. She Door In an invention, its interpretation, if proven, would be very interesting, but perhaps not as revolutionary as the invention (though)Homo naledi Or fossil remainsHomo sapiens The oldest on the Djebel Irhoud site in Morocco.

It all started in 2002 Ancient physician Polish looked like the fingerprints of Gerard Kierlinsky Fossils Mammals in the sediment layer, during his vacation in Crete. It was not until 2010 that the researcher actually came to the site; It was then that more in-depth research began in the Trachilos area near the town of Kissamos, west of the island. An actual path with 29 footprints of 9.9 to 22.3 cm was finally discovered. However, according to the researchers, these traces come from both ends, and, above all, from mammals, whose legs are hominins, which connect us directly.

Do hominins cross the dry Mediterranean?

The researchers wanted to date their discovery. In the presence they helped with this Foraminifiers In Strategy Sediment bearing the presumed footprints. You should know these Microbes Sea creatures evolve over time, making them useful time markers for dating a layer in the fossil record. Initially, the age between 8.5 and 3.5 million years was thus obtained. So these traces are at least as old as Laodicea, which was discovered in Tanzania in 1978, and they date back to about 3.5 million years ago (the most famous, because they asteroids)

But how on earth could the oldest hominins of that time have created mere basic tools and crossed the Mediterranean? This would have made the famous Messianic salinity crisis somewhat quickly forgotten, i.e., would have dried up remarkably, and perhaps even completely, as the Strait of Gibraltar had been temporarily closed by the movements of this ocean. Tectonic plates. Unstable, this drying mezzanine, eventually Miocene, 5.96 to 5.33 million years ago. However, streetgraphic studies show that the layer found in Crete is close to the well-known identification layer of this phenomenon. Therefore, we know that the dipoles that left these traces must have lived about 5.7 million years ago. Much of the Mediterranean was then similar Offer depression And the Sahara is not one Desert But an African savannah.

Since Crete was not an island at the time, traces of Trachylos may have been left by hominins. But some paleontologists deny the structure of these fingerprints, alas, not enough quality to resolve the debate quickly. So far, however, traces of hominins over 2 million years old have all been found in Africa. So we have to conclude that these hominins may have been tried earlier than we thought. Moreover, some already think so, based on the findings of the teeth belonging to Grigopytecus (Greek Freeberg), Although it is discussed, makes him the ancestor of this genre Homo, Which confuses our ideas about our origin.