The Plio-Pleistocene site of Laetoli in Tanzania is famous for its hominid footprints, preserved in volcanic ash (Site G). The site of the Laetoli footprints is located 45 km south of Olduvai gorge. The Plio-Pleistocene is an archaeological term that is coming into increasing use to describe a long and continuous run of dated sedimentary layers in East Africa. ... A hominid is any member of the biological family Hominidae (the great apes), including the extinct and extant humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. ... Ash plume from Mt Cleveland, a stratovolcano Diamond Head, a well-known backdrop to Waikiki in Hawaii, is an ash cone that solidified into tuff Volcanic ash consists of very fine rock and mineral particles less than 2 mm in diameter that are ejected from a volcanic vent. ... The Olduvai Gorge is a 30 mile long, steep-sided ravine, part of the Great Rift Valley which stretches along eastern Africa. ...

Laetoli Site, February 2006

Image File history File links Laetoli. ...

Date

The footprint-bearing layers are Pliocene in age, dated by the K/Ar method to 3.7 million years ago (m.y.a.). The Pliocene epoch (spelled Pleiocene in some older texts) is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5. ... Potassium-argon or K-Ar dating is a geochronological method used in many geoscience disciplines. ... Mya has more than one meaning: Mýa, an American R&B singer and actress mya (unit), an abbreviation for million years ago, used as a unit of time in astronomy and geology The ISO 639 alpha-3 code for the Burmese language (mya) The IOC, license plate, and UNDP...

The footprints

A line of hominid fossil footprints, discovered in 1978 by Mary Leakey, Richard Hay, Tim White and their team, is preserved in powdery volcanic ash from an eruption of the 20 km distant Sadiman Volcano. Soft rain cemented the ash-layer (15 cm thick) to tuff without destroying the prints. In time, they were covered by other ash deposits. The hominid prints were produced by three individuals, one walking in the footprints of the other, making the original tracks difficult to discover. As the tracks lead in the same direction, they might have been produced by a group -- but there is nothing else to support the common reconstruction of a nuclear family visiting the waterhole together. Genera The hominids are the members of the biological family Hominidae (the great apes), which includes humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. ... A fossilized dinosaur footprint at Clayton Lake State Park, New Mexico. ... Mary Leakey (February 6, 1913 – December 9, 1996) was a British archaeologist, who, along with others, discovered the first skull of a fossil ape on Rusinga Island. ... Tim White (born August 24, 1950 in Los Angeles, California) is an American anthropologist. ... Ash plume from Mt Cleveland, a stratovolcano Diamond Head, a well-known backdrop to Waikiki in Hawaii, is an ash cone that solidified into tuff Volcanic ash consists of very fine rock and mineral particles less than 2 mm in diameter that are ejected from a volcanic vent. ... For other uses, see Volcano (disambiguation). ... Welded tuff at Golden Gate in Yellowstone National Park Tuff (from the Italian tufo) is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption. ...

The footprints demonstrate that the hominids walked upright habitually, as there are no knuckle-impressions. The feet do not have the mobile big toe of apes; instead, they have an arch (the bending of the sole of the foot) typical of modern humans. The hominids seem to have moved in a leisurely stroll.

Other animals

Other prints show the presence of twenty other animal species, among them hyenas, wild cats (Machairodont), baboons, wild boar, giraffes, gazelles, rhinos, several kinds of antelope, hipparion, buffalo, elephants (of the extinct Deinotherium genus), hare and birds. Traces of raindrops can be seen as well. Few prints are superimposed, which indicates that they were rapidly covered up again. Most of these animals are represented by skeletal remains in the area as well. Subfamilies and Genera Hyaeninae Crocuta Hyaena Parahyaena Protelinae Proteles Hyenas or Hyænas are moderately large terrestrial carnivores native to Africa, Arabia, Asia and the Indian subcontinent. ... Type species Simia hamadryas Linnaeus, 1758 Species Papio hamadryas Papio papio Papio anubis Papio cynocephalus Papio ursinus The five baboon species are some of the largest non-hominid members of the primate order; only the Mandrill and the Drill are larger. ... Binomial name Sus scrofa Linnaeus, 1758 The Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) is the wild ancestor of the domesticated pig. ... Binomial name Giraffa camelopardalis Linnaeus, 1758 Range map The giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all land-living animal species. ... Species Several, see text A gazelle is an antelope of the genus Gazella. ... Black Rhino from Howletts Wild Animal Park For other uses, see Rhinoceros (disambiguation). ... Genera Aepyceros Alcelaphus Antidorcas Antilope Cephalophus Connochaetes Damaliscus Gazella Hippotragus Kobus Madoqua Neotragus Oreotragus Oryx Ourebia Pantholops Procapra Sylvicapra Taurotragus Tragelaphus and others Antelope are herbivorous mammals of the family Bovidae, often noted for their horns. ... Species Hipparion is an extinct genus of horse. ... Binomial name Syncerus caffer (Sparrman, 1779) Subspecies The African Buffalo or Cape Buffalo (Syncerus caffer) is a bovid from the family of the Bovidae. ... Species Deinotherium bozasi Arambourg, 1934 Deinotherium giganteus Kaup, 1829 Deinotherium indicum Falconer, 1845 Deinotherium (terrible beast) was a huge prehistoric proto-elephant that appeared in the Middle Miocene and continued until the Early Pleistocene. ... Jack rabbit and Jackrabbit redirect here. ... “Aves” redirects here. ...

Human remains

The German anthropologist Ludwig Kohl-Larsen was the first to go to Laetoli to look for fossil remains. In 1934 he found the jaw of Australopithecus afarensis.^[1] Ludwig Kohl-Larsen (April 5, 1884, Landau in der Pfalz - November 12, 1969, Bodensee) was a German researcher of prehistory, and an explorer. ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Binomial name †Australopithecus afarensis Johanson & White, 1978 Australopithecus afarensis is an extinct hominid which lived between 3. ...

The remains of 13 hominids have been found, mainly mandibles and teeth. They show affinities to the female skeleton Lucy from Hadar, Ethiopia. Most scholars classify them as Australopithecus afarensis, but some stress the greater similarity to Homo and prefer to speak of Homo sp. indet. Genera The hominids are the members of the biological family Hominidae (the great apes), which includes humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with jaw. ... Types of teeth Molars are used for grinding up foods Carnassials are used for slicing food. ... Binomial name †Australopithecus afarensis Johanson & White, 1978 Australopithecus afarensis is an extinct hominid which lived between 3. ... Hadar is a site on the Awash River in Ethiopia, in the Afar Triangle. ... Binomial name †Australopithecus afarensis Johanson & White, 1978 Australopithecus afarensis is an extinct hominid which lived between 3. ... Species Homo sapiens See text for extinct species. ...

A rather complete skull found at Ngaloba in 1976 has been dated to ca. 120 000 to 100 000 years ago. It is very modern anatomically, with a cranial capacity of ca. 1200 cm³, but the forehead is still very low. Cranial capacity is a measure of the volume of the interior of the cranium (also called the braincase or brainpan) of those animals who have both a brain and a cranium. ...

Artifacts

No artifacts have been found in the vicinity. I archaeology, an artifact or artefact is any object made or modified by a human culture, and often one later recovered by some archaeological endeavor. ...

Further reading

• Mary D. Leakey and J. M. Harris (eds), Laetoli: a Pliocene site in Northern Tanzania (Oxford, Clarendon Press 1987). ISBN 0-19-854441-3.
• Richard L. Hay and Mary D. Leakey, "Fossil footprints of Laetoli." Scientific American, February 1982, 50-57.

References

• Footprints From the Past

See also

• List of fossil sites (with link directory)
• List of hominina (hominid) fossils (with images)

List of fossil sites: // Elliot Formation, South Africa (Triassic) Fayum Formation, Egypt (Eocene) Karoo Desert, South Africa (Permian-Triassic) Lothagam, Kenya (Miocene) Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania (Pliocene) Rusinga Island, Kenya (Miocene) Tendaguru, Tanzania (Jurassic) López de Bertodano Formation (Cretaceous) Mount Kirkpatrick (Jurassic) Barun Goyot Formation, Mongolia (Cretaceous) Bissekty Formation, Uzbekistan... The following charts give a brief overview of several notable fossil finds relating to human evolution. ...

External links

• Footprints to Fill : Flat feet and doubts about makers of the Laetoli tracks - Scientific American Magazine (August 2005)
• Leakey, M. D. and Hay, R. L. - Pliocene footprints in the Laetolil Beds at Laetoli, northern Tanzania - Nature
• Laetoli Footprints - PBS - Evolution
• Guston Sondidn-Klausner Laetoli Movement - artworks for and about Laetoli
• [1] - film about Ludwig Kohl-Larsen