![Eve Footprints replica](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Eve_Footprints_replica.jpg)
Eve's footprint is the popular name for a set of fossilized footprints discovered on the shore of
Langebaan Lagoon, South Africa in 1995. They are thought to be those of a female human and have been dated to approximately 117,000 years ago. This makes them the oldest known footprints of an
anatomically-modern human. The estimated age of Eve's footprint means that the individual who left the tracks in the soil, thought to be female, would have lived within the current wide range of estimates for the date of
Mitochondrial Eve
In human genetics, the Mitochondrial Eve (also ''mt-Eve, mt-MRCA'') is the matrilineal most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of all living humans. In other words, she is defined as the most recent woman from whom all living humans descend in an ...
.
History
The three footprints were found in 1995 by geologist David Roberts from the Council for Geoscience and announced at a press conference with
paleoanthropologist Lee R. Berger of the
University of the Witwatersrand
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...
at
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...
, South Africa, at the
National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world.
Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, an ...
in
Washington, D.C.
)
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The discovery was documented in the August, 1997, issue of the ''
South African Journal of Science
The ''South African Journal of Science'' is an open access, multidisciplinary academic journal published bimonthly by the Academy of Science of South Africa. The journal has a 2021 impact factor
The impact factor (IF) or journal impact factor ( ...
''.
Berger and Roberts say the prints were made on a steep sand dune during a turbulent rainstorm. The location where they were found is in southwest South Africa about 60 to 70 miles (about 100 kilometres) northwest of
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
in the
West Coast National Park
The West Coast National Park lies north of Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The park is found inside of the Cape West Coast Biosphere Reserve, part of the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme. It is bordered by the At ...
. They were found in a ledge of sandstone at the edge of
Langebaan Lagoon
Langebaan is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa on the eastern shore of Langebaan Lagoon.
Langebaan is situated 120 km north of Cape Town, just off the R27, about 28 km from Vredenburg and 20 km from Saldanha Bay. ...
near the Atlantic coast. The preserved prints were moved to the
South African Museum
The Iziko South African Museum is a South African national museum located in Cape Town. The museum was founded in 1825, the first in the country. It has been on its present site in the Company's Garden since 1897. The museum houses important A ...
in Cape Town for protection and a concrete replica was mounted on the shores of Langebaan.
The maker of the footprints lived in the time of the emergence of modern ''
Homo sapiens
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...
'', or people
anatomically similar to humans alive today.
The footprints measure in length and are about the size of a modern-day (U.S.) woman's size 7½ shoe (British size 6, continental European size 39½
["Clothing size equivalents", Filofax.]). In one foot impression the big toe, ball, arch, and heel clearly are discernible.
Roberts thinks that the prints belong to an ancient female about tall. He said that the woman who made these footprints would resemble a contemporary woman.
Fewer than three dozen
hominid fossils from the period 100,000 to 200,000 years ago have been found. Berger said, "These footprints are traces of the earliest modern people." Roberts explained further that dry sand blew over the wet footprints and filled the prints. They eventually were buried to a depth of about . The sand and accompanying crushed seashells hardened like cement into
sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...
and protected the footprints.
The team later found associated evidence of stone tool use (a
core
Core or cores may refer to:
Science and technology
* Core (anatomy), everything except the appendages
* Core (manufacturing), used in casting and molding
* Core (optical fiber), the signal-carrying portion of an optical fiber
* Core, the centra ...
,
scrapers, cutting blades, and a spear point) in the same area that is believed to date from the same period. There also was evidence of the use of
ochre, leading to the intriguing possibility that the 'Eve' of 117,000 years ago may have been wearing the colorful powder.
See also
*
Ancient footprints of Acahualinca
The Ancient footprints of Acahualinca (; es, Huellas de Acahualinca) exist in Managua, Nicaragua near the southern shore of Lake Managua. The region was once called "El Cauce". The tracks are fossil Late Holocene human footprints left behind in ...
– late Holocene human footprints found near the shore of
Lake Managua
Lake Managua ( es, Lago de Managua, ), also known as Lake Xolotlán (), is a lake in Nicaragua. At 1,042 km², it is approximately long and wide. Similarly to the name of Lake Nicaragua, its other name comes from the Nahuatl language, possi ...
in
Nicaragua
Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...
, dating to approximately 2,120 years ago.
*
Happisburgh footprints
The Happisburgh footprints were a set of fossilized hominid footprints that date to the early Pleistocene, over 800,000 years ago. They were discovered in May 2013 in a newly uncovered sediment layer of the Cromer Forest Bed on a beach at Happ ...
– early Pleistocene fossilized hominid footprints found in a sediment layer on a beach at Happisburgh in Norfolk, England, dating to more than 800,000 years ago,
*
Ileret – footprints of ''
Homo erectus'' found at Ileret, Northern
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
...
, dating to approximately 1.5 million years ago.
*
Laetoli
Laetoli is a pre-historic site located in Enduleni ward of Ngorongoro District in Arusha Region, Tanzania. The site is dated to the Plio-Pleistocene and famous for its Hominina footprints, preserved in volcanic ash. The site of the Laetoli fo ...
footprints – a line of
hominid footprints, discovered at
Laetoli
Laetoli is a pre-historic site located in Enduleni ward of Ngorongoro District in Arusha Region, Tanzania. The site is dated to the Plio-Pleistocene and famous for its Hominina footprints, preserved in volcanic ash. The site of the Laetoli fo ...
,
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
by
Mary Leakey
Mary Douglas Leakey, FBA (née Nicol, 6 February 1913 – 9 December 1996) was a British paleoanthropologist who discovered the first fossilised ''Proconsul'' skull, an extinct ape which is now believed to be ancestral to humans. She also disc ...
in 1976, dating to approximately 3.6 million years ago.
*
List of fossil sites
This list of fossil sites is a worldwide list of localities known well for the presence of fossils. Some entries in this list are notable for a single, unique find, while others are notable for the large number of fossils found there. Many of t ...
''(with link directory)''
*
List of hominina (hominid) fossils ''(with images)''
References
Citations
Sources cited
* Berger, Lee R. et al., ''In the Footsteps of Eve: The Mystery of Human Origins,'' National Geographic Society (2000),
*
Wade, Nicholas, ''The New York Times Book of Archaeology'', The Lyons Press (2001),
External links
Human Timeline (Interactive)–
Smithsonian,
National Museum of Natural History
The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...
(August 2016).
{{Human Evolution
Homo sapiens fossils
Paleoanthropological sites
Fossil trackways
1995 archaeological discoveries
Archaeological discoveries in South Africa
Archaeology of Southern Africa
Archaeological history of Southern Africa