3.6 Million Year-Old Footprints

Olduwai Gorge

OLDAVAI GORGE, TANZANIA: I learned from the plague in the small museum that in 1976 members of Mary Leakey’s paleontological team were just fooling around, throwing dried elephant dung at each other, when one of the members ducked, slipped, and hit the ground. As he did, he noticed the clear indentations of animal prints in the hard surface. The team knew that at this level of the Gorge the footprints had to be over three million years old due to the unique feature of the Gorge in which over millions of years intermittent volcanic eruptions had created four clearly identifiable geological layers that can now be tied to specific periods in time. Through the Gorge’s successive levels paleontologists have continued to discover the remains of prehistoric hominid species and their artifacts that aptly demonstrate the evolution of humankind. Leakey’s team removed the sand from the animal footprints only to find footprints that looked very human like. These footprints they determined had to have been that of Australopithecus Afrarensi; the same specie of hominid as that of Lucy found in Ethiopia in 1974, whose skull is about the size of an ape. Therefore, paleontologists theorize the footprints demonstrate that bipedalism predated the evolution of other human-like characteristics like large brain size. Concerned over preserving a record of what they had discovered, Leakey’s team created a plaster cast of the footprints, which are now on display in the museum. “But where are the actual footprints?” I asked my guide. “They’re forty-five kilometers from here, but you can’t see them, because they’re buried.” After making the cast, the Leakey’s team had buried them to preserve them for future generations. This, however, they soon found wasn’t such a good idea, as plants started to take root that would eventually destroy the imprints. Efforts are now being taken to ensure that that doesn’t happen. “But wait,” I asked my guide. “Why cover them up at all? Why not build a museum around the footprints that would preserve them while actually allowing future generations to view them?” “Don’t know,” my guide responded. A nearby tourist, who appeared quite knowledgeable on the subject, said, “The cost/benefit analysis simply doesn’t support it.”