SCIENTISTS IN SOUTH AFRICA HAVE DISCOVERED THE EARLIEST KNOWN FOOTPRINTS OF A MODERN HUMAN BEING. TESTS SHOW THE ROCK THAT THE FOOTPRINTS ARE IN IS ONE-HUNDRED-SEVENTEEN-THOUSAND YEARS OLD. SCIENTISTS HAVE FOUND FOOTPRINTS MADE BY HUMAN ANCESTORS THAT ARE MILLIONS OF YEARS OLD. BUT THESE ARE THE OLDEST MARKS MADE BY FEET OF MODERN HUMANS.THE FOOTPRINTS WERE DISCOVERED TWO YEARS AGO ON THE SOUTH AFRICAN COAST, ABOUT NINETY KILOMETERS NORTH OF CAPE TOWN. LEE BERGER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WITWATERSRAND IN JOHANNESBURG LED THE SCIENTIFIC TEAM. THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE AND THE SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE PUBLISHED REPORTS OF THE DISCOVERY.
SCIENTIST DAVID ROBERTS WAS THE FIRST TO SEE THE FOOT PRINTS IN A ROCK. FIRST HE FOUND PIECES OF ROCK THAT SEEMED TO HAVE BEEN BROKEN BY HUMAN-LIKE CREATURES. THEN HE SEARCHED FOR HUMAN-LIKE FOOTPRINTS IN THE AREA. HE FOUND THEM. HE SAID HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE HAD WALKED OVER THAT AREA IN THE PAST, YET NO ONE HAD SEEN THE PRINTS.
THE SCIENTISTS SAY THE FOOTPRINTS ARE EXACTLY LIKE THOSE MADE BY MODERN HUMAN FEET. THE PERSON'S BIG TOE WAS LONGER THAN THE OTHER TOES. THE FOOTPRINTS ARE SMALL, SHOWING THAT THE PERSON WHO MADE THEM WAS NOT VERY BIG. THE PERSON COULD HAVE BEEN A FEMALE, A YOUNG PERSON OR A SMALL MALE. MISTER BERGER SAYS THE PERSON WHO LEFT THE FOOTPRINTS LOOKED LIKE PEOPLE OF TODAY.
THE SCIENTISTS SAY THE PERSON MUST HAVE BEEN WALKING SOON AFTER A RAINSTORM, AND STEPPED IN WET SAND. WHEN THE AREA DRIED, WIND BLEW DRY SAND ON TOP OF THE FOOTPRINTS, PROTECTING THEM. OVER THOUSANDS OF YEARS, THE FOOTPRINTS WERE BURIED IN ROCK. LATER, THE ROCK WORE AWAY, AND THE PRINTS COULD BE SEEN.
THE FOOTPRINTS SAY ARE A RARE DISCOVERY FROM THE TIME WHEN MODERN HUMANS FIRST APPEARED. SCIENTISTS HAVE NOT FOUND MUCH PHYSICAL EVIDENCE FROM THIS PERIOD OF HISTORY.
STUDIES OF HUMAN GENETIC MATERIAL SHOW THAT ALL PEOPLE ALIVE TODAY CAME FROM ONE FEMALE WHO LIVED IN AFRICA BETWEEN ONE-HUNDRED-THOUSAND AND THREE-HUNDRED-THOUSAND YEARS AGO. SCIENTISTS CALL HER "EVE." MISTER BERGER SAYS IT IS NOT LIKELY THAT THE REAL EVE MADE THE ANCIENT FOOTPRINTS. BUT, HE SAYS, THEY WERE MADE AT THE RIGHT TIME ON THE RIGHT CONTINENT TO BE HERS.
02-Sep-97
Source: Voice of America