Hominid Fossil Repository | Australopithecus afarensis:Laetoli footprints

Discoverer(s)

Mary Leakey

Type Specimen

LH 4

Specimen Name/Nickname

Laetoli footprints

Location (Country)

Laetoli

Site (Name)

Tanzania

Discovery Date

1979

Specimen/Species Time Range

3.6 mya

Dating Method

potassium- argon absolute dating

Specimen Data (Morphology)

These footprints had an in line big toe. Complete with modern day features of a toe off, heel strike, and arches; unlike flat footed quadrupeds.

Related Publications

Johanson, Donald, and Blake Edgar. From Lucy to Language. New York, Nevraumont Publishing Company, 2006, pp. 141-143

Conroy, Glenn C., and Herman Pontzer. Reconstructing Human Origins: A Modern Synthesis. 3rd ed., New York & London, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2012, pp. 226-227

Image source:
"Human Evolution." PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, 14 Apr. 2017. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/evolution/footprints.html

Australopithecus afarensis: Laetoli footprints

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