Not elder Law: World’s oldest footprints are in jeopardy

They are the world’s oldest human tracks, a set offootprints pressed into volcanic ash that have lain perfectly preservedfor more than three-and-a-half million years. Made by a group ofancient apemen, the prints represent one of the most important sites inhuman evolutionary studies, for they show that our ancestors hadalready stopped walking on four legs and had become upright members ofthe primate world.

But now the Laetoli steps in northern Tanzaniaare in danger of destruction. The footprints, although reburied 10years ago and covered by a special protective coating, are sufferingstorm erosion, while trees and plants begin to grow through thehistoric outlines.

The Laetoli steps were discovered in 1976 byscientists led by the late Mary Leakey, mother of conservationistRichard Leakey. They found a couple of prints that had been exposed bythe wind and then uncovered a trail that led across an expanse ofvolcanic ash, like footprints left behind by holidaymakers walking on awet beach.

The researchers could make out the arch of eachfoot, the big toe – even the heel. The prints had clearly been made bycreatures who had long adapted to walking on two legs. Yet tests showedthe prints had been made about 3.6 million years ago.

More in The Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/jan/13/archaeology.oldest.human.tracks.eroding