Human footprints date back 3.7 million years

HUMAN feet were walking in far more ancient times than previously thought, research has shown.

Until now it was believed the characteristic human foot and ability to walk upright on two legs emerged around 1.9 million years ago.

But scientists have made a new discovery of human-like footprints dating back almost 3.7 million years.

The prints, preserved in rock sediment in Laetoli, Tanzania, display a gait more like that of modern humans than the awkward upright walking posture adopted by chimpanzees, orangutans and gorillas.

Eleven individual prints were found in good condition.

Previous finds have generally been of single prints, making it difficult to distinguish between genuine and artificial features.

The footprints are thought to have been left by Australopithecus afarensis, a primitive early human that may be a direct ancestor of everyone living today.

Scientists compared their analysis of the prints with data from studies of modern humans and apes.

Lead researcher Professor Robin Crompton, from the University of Liverpool — whose findings appear in the Royal Society journal Interface — said: “It was previously thought that Australopithecus afarensis walked in a crouched posture, and on the side of the foot, pushing off the ground with the middle part of the foot, as today’s great apes do.

“We found, however, that the Laetoli prints represented a type of bipedal walking that was fully upright and driven by the front of the foot, particularly the big toe, much like humans today, and quite different to bipedal walking of chimpanzees and other apes”.