Footprints preserved on the shore of Lake Turkana in Kenya seem to be from two ancient human species, showing they lived there at the same time about 1.5 million years ago
By Michael Marshall
28 November 2024
A trackway of footprints thought to have been left by a Paranthropus boisei individual
Neil T. Roach
Preserved footprints in Kenya appear to record two different species of ancient humans walking over the same muddy lakeshore, probably within days of each other. It is one of the most dramatic demonstrations ever found that the world was once home to multiple hominin species living side by side.
“It’s really exceptional that we find this evidence for two different species walking across that surface,” says Kevin Hatala at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The footprints were found in 2021 in Koobi Fora, Kenya, near the eastern shore of Lake Turkana. They were first spotted by team member Richard Loki at the Turkana Basin Institute, says Hatala: “It was a team of Kenyans who were working there originally.”
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Preserved in a dried-out layer of sand and silt, the team found a trackway consisting of 12 footprints (see image, above), evidently left by one individual walking in a straight line. There were also three isolated prints near the main group, seemingly made by three different individuals. The lack of signs of mud cracking or overprinting of tracks with others indicate that the prints were all made at about the same time. “These sites probably capture a window of time anywhere from minutes to a few days or so,” says Hatala.
The sediment has been dated to about 1.52 million years ago. The isolated tracks resemble those left by modern humans: the heel struck the ground first, then the foot rolled forwards before pushing off with the sole. Hatala and his colleagues suggest that these were made by Homo erectus, which are known to have lived in the area.