Footprint Fossils

The oldest footprints that looked like those made by the humans were created about 1.5 millions years ago out in the Kenyan desert. Scientists, including Brian Richmond from the George Washington University, discovered this fossilized prints in dried mud in 2009. Richmond is now working on comparing the gait and foot structure of modern humans to the collection of ancient footprints. He said that the footprints tell him that humans were walking with long stride and that they had an arch in their foot, like we do. These adaptations show the key differences between us and our primate ancestors (gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos). Spring tendons improve the foot’s effectiveness because some of the energy used to drop one’s weight down when taking a step is in fact stored and then returned to the leg as it bounce back. Scientists believed that these footprints were made by Homo erectus, a human ancestor that existed about 1.8 million years ago. They are also similar to modern humans’ large brains and bodies. Scientists are still trying to figure out how similar the footprints of the ancient people to modern people today, while walking across sand. They are currently testing how people walk by placing reflective markers along the legs of their participants and then filming the volunteers walk in an indoor sandbox, and then they would analyze all footprints using 3-D scans.

This article has to do with biology concepts because fossils (the remains of a living thing, for example, artifacts) can be a great tool when trying to investigate about the ancient world. Footprint is one example of how we study our ancestors and how they are alike to us. Studying footprints will allow scientists to view many similarities and differences between the footprints produced by ancient people and the one made by modern people. Adaptations also play important roles as they explain how we change over time; the theory of evolution.

We should care about this information because it will help us understand where we came from, who our ancestors are, and what do they look like. Being informed about this is one step closer to understanding how we connect with our ancestors and how we are similar to each other. In the future, we may be able to know how recent our mechanisms for walking and running really are.

http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/footprint-fossils-analyzed-for-ancient-human-gait.html