Laetoli footprints

The Laetoli footprints are fossilized hominin tracks preserved in volcanic ash in Tanzania, dating to about 3.66 million years ago. Their gait provides direct evidence of bipedal walking.

Site G footprints: A trail of hominin footprints at Laetoli, commonly attributed to Australopithecus afarensis. This trail supplies the best-known evidence for the footprints’ characteristic bipedal gait.
Bipedalism: Locomotion using two legs as the primary means of walking. The tracks provide direct evidence that hominins walked upright on two legs.
Radiometric dating: A method of dating materials by measuring predictable changes in radioactive isotopes. Dating volcanic layers associated with the tracks establishes their age near 3.66 million years.
Hominin locomotion: The ways extinct human relatives moved, including walking, climbing, and running. Laetoli informs debates about how early upright walking combined with other forms of movement.
Site A footprints: A set of Laetoli tracks once attributed to a bear, now recognized as hominin footprints. Their unusual gait complicates the idea that every Laetoli trackway records the same kind of walker.
Gait: A pattern of movement produced during walking or running. Stride length, foot placement, and track sequence help researchers infer how the trackmakers moved.
Taphonomy: The study of how organisms and their traces become fossilized and preserved. Preservation conditions explain why some impressions survived while others were lost or altered.
Australopithecus afarensis locomotion: The locomotor behavior inferred for Australopithecus afarensis from fossils and trackways. The tracks are central evidence, but interpretations of their gait and foot mechanics differ.
Laetoli: A fossil-rich archaeological and paleontological site in northern Tanzania. The footprints are one part of a broader record of ancient life and activity at this site.
Footprint: An impression made when a foot presses into a surface. The tracks formed when feet deformed wet volcanic ash that later hardened.

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