Archaeology

FIVE fossil footprints left in volcanic ash 3.66 million years ago at a site called Laetoli in Tanzania are giving scientists new insight on a landmark in human evolution – walking upright.

Researchers said on Wednesday that a new examination of the tracks found in 1976 has shown that they were not made by a bear, as once believed, but by a hominin, a species in the human lineage – and possibly a previously unknown one with a curious gait.

Bipedalism – walking on two feet – is a hallmark of humankind.