2024-02-07 15:09:11
In Morocco, human footprints around 100,000 years old were discovered in Larache, south of Tangier. According to the researchers behind the discovery, it is one of the best preserved human footprint sites in the world and the oldest in North Africa.
Published on: 07/02/2024 – 16:09
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More than 80 human footprints were discovered in 2022 by scientists on the coast of northern Morocco. Their study, published recently in the magazine Nature, reveals that these are Homo sapiens footprints dating back around 100,000 years. They were left by at least five individuals, including children. The orientation of the tracks indicates that the group was heading towards the sea, probably in search of food and shellfish.
For Belgian paleoanthropologist Isabelle Crevecoeur, research director at the CNRS, contacted by RFI, these very precious footprints help scientists measure the weight and size of these individuals. They also provide information on their way of moving, by walking or running. “ We are working on extremely meager indices for this period, so any information is crucialshe explains. These traces provide a snapshot of the life of this human group. »
A rich area for the history of humanity
The history of human evolution in this region of northwest Morocco is very rich. In 2017, bones of Homo sapiens 300,000 years old had been discovered. « It is a region which has yielded numerous sites, where we understand that there was great exploitation of the marine environment, of fauna, of hunting, over hundreds of thousands of years. », Says the researcher.
« The species Homo sapiens, to which we are all attached, more than likely originated in Africa in different places, whether in East Africa or Morocco. At present, there is no longer really this idea of an origin of Homo sapiens in a single place in Africa. It would rather be an evolution of different populations across the continent, with probably genetic flows between African regions, which gradually led to the emergence of our species. », adds Isabelle Crevecoeur.
And researchers assure that this region will provide new evidence of the past in the short term, particularly under the effect of erosion.
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