When, in the late 1970s, a couple of archaeologists discovered about 70 prints in Tanzania near the Sadiman volcano, it became a significant discovery among scientists. It turned out that the traces were left about 3.6 million years ago. And they belonged to hominids - the family of the most progressive primates, which also includes humans and great apes.
The spouses Louis and Mary Leakey began to survey this territory back in 1935. In the course of their archaeological searches, they first discovered the teeth of Australopithecus - higher primates with signs of upright walking. However, then scientists could not accurately establish those to whom these teeth belonged. Only 40 years later, the find was identified as the remains of hominids. In addition to teeth, archaeologists also managed to collect a rather impressive collection of other remains of Australopithecus.
But in addition to the remains, traces belonging to upright hominids were also found. The find consisted of about 70 tracks arranged in a double chain, the length of which is 23 (according to other sources - 27) meters. These tracks were called "Laetoli prints" - because of the area of the same name in Tanzania, where they were found.
The prints also varied in size. As scientists later suggested, the largest footprints belonged to the male, slightly smaller to females, the smallest to cubs. There were several females. Most likely, a family of ancient hominids walked here. But where and for what purpose they were moving - this has not yet been established by scientists.
The archaeological find of the Leakey spouses made it possible for scientists to study the mechanism of walking and the structure of the foot of ancient hominids. Moreover, after analyzing the volcanic tuff, in the layer of which the traces were found, scientists have established the approximate date of the appearance of the traces - this happened 3.6 million years ago. That is, the prints of Laetoli are the oldest traces of the largest Australopithecus known to modern science.
According to the examination carried out, the Australopithecines from Laetoli were short in stature or had short legs. The height of the male was 130-160 cm, of the female - only about 110 cm. The big toe was adjoined to the foot. And when walking, they rested not on the forefoot, like a person, but on the heels. Although unambiguous conclusions about how the creatures walked and looked that left their footprints in Tanzania almost 4 million years ago, scientists still continue to figure out.
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Along with these traces, the remains and traces of dinoteria were also found - ancient representatives of proboscis, mahairods, or saber-toothed tigers, as well as antelopes, giraffes, wild boars, ostriches, pheasants and other representatives of the fauna of that time. After a while, one more track of Australopithecus footprints was found in the same territory. These tracks were located only 150 meters from those found earlier. And they were also buried under a layer of tuff.
After the discovery of Laetoli's prints, it was decided to preserve them, covering them with a layer of sand. In this way, archaeologists wanted to protect valuable finds from destruction. But after a while, young acacias began to grow on the area covered with sand. When scientists decided to check, it turned out that the roots of the trees really destroy the ancient unique monument. Since it was not possible to move the tracks with traces, they decided to simply remove the trees periodically.