New Delhi:
In the latest breakthrough research, scientists have discovered 5.7 million human-like footprints from Greece's largest island Crete which may contradict fortified theories of early human evolution.
The evolution of the human lineage has been thought to lie in Africa ever since the discovery of fossils of Australopithecus in South and East Africa during the middle years of the 20th century.
This is not the new case, earlier also 3.7 million-year-old Laetoli footprints from Tanzania which show human-like feet and upright locomotion.
This proved the idea that hominids originated in Africa and remained isolated there for several million years before.
The 5.7 million-year-old human-like footprints discovered by researchers at the Uppsala University in Sweden. Human feets have a unique shape and features, completely different from all other land animals.
The amalgamation of a long sole, five short forward-pointing toes without claws, and a giant toe which is larger than the usual toe, is completely unusual.
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The footprints of the Laetoli which was made by the Australopithecusare mostly similar to those of modern humans with one exception which is the heel is narrower and the sole lacks a proper arch.
The 4.4 million-year-old Ardipithecus ramidus from Ethiopia, the oldest known hominin has an ape-like foot.
The newly discovered footprints have an unmistakably human-like form. The big toe is identical to our own in shape, size, and position.
It has also associated with a distinct 'ball' on the sole which is absent in apes.
The foot sole is comparatively shorter than in the Laetoli prints, but it has the same general form. The structure of the Trachilos prints indicates unambiguously that they belong to an early hominin, somewhat more primitive than the Laetoli trackmaker.
"This discovery challenges the established narrative of early human evolution head-on and is likely to generate a lot of debate", said Ahlberg.
"Whether the human origins research community will accept fossil footprints as conclusive evidence of the presence of hominins in the Miocene of Crete remains to be seen", he added.
