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The bones they found in the sand were a clue that something more was buried beneath the surface. But these remarkably preserved footprints were the first to indicate that two different species of hominins — including Homo erectus, which is a direct ancestor to humans, and Paranthropus boisei, which was a different species that also descended from the ape ancestor …

Footprints

Discovery of 1.5 million-year-old footprints shows two different human ancestors lived alongside each other

Discovery of fossilized footprints reveals the moment two ancient human species crossed paths

Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. “It’s surprising that you would have two kinds of similarly sized, large-bodied hominin species on the same landscape,” said Kevin Hatala, first author of a study on the footprints that published in the journal Science on Thursday. Briana Pobiner, a research scientist and museum educator at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural …

Fossil footprints in Tanzania shed light on the first instances when early humans began walking upright

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The site in Tanzania, where five consecutive footprints known as “The Laetoli Footprints” were discovered …

Mysterious footprints discovered in Tanzania were left by early humans 3.7 million years ago

Mysterious footprints first thought to have been made by ancient bears were actually left by early humans millions of years ago, a new study has found. It suggests that more than one such species was walking on two legs 3.7 million years ago, as separate footprints found at a nearby site in Laetoli have previously been identified as the earliest …