The discoveries found on the coasts of Spain baffled scientists due to their strange shape, localization and shapes dating back more than 100,000 years.
A recent study showed that the footprints discovered in the sand on a Spanish beach were left by a Neanderthal child 100,000 years ago.
But the interesting thing that the study found is that the child’s footprints indicate that he was “jumping irregularly, as if he were dancing.”
Footprints (fingerprints) due to inclement weather and tides were detected in June 2020, and were spotted by a couple of biologists who happened to be walking on the sand.
According to the “Daily Mail”, the couple found what is considered a Neanderthal water hole, on the beach of Matalascanas in Spain, dating back 100,000 years, specifically to the late Pleistocene era.
Paleontologists from the University of “Huelva” confirm that this discovery is the oldest known example of the footprints of Neanderthals in that region.
And found at the site of the discovery 87 footprints at the site, including evidence of one of the dramatic effects of a Neanderthal child was jumping and may dance across the sand.
The study author, Eduardo Mayoral, says that tracking the early Neanderthals is very difficult because there are often no bones left of it, as all of it has decomposed, so they (the researchers) rely on footprints and other fossil records.
https://youtu.be/7XDzaEIfZ0s
He explained that “the biological and ethical information of ancient hominin groups in the absence of bone remains, is provided by studying their fossil footprints, which show us certain moments” frozen from their activities.
Lots of super images here without a paywall. Neanderthal footprints discovered on a Spanish beach were left by a child 'jumping irregularly as though dancing' in the sand 100,000 years ago https://t.co/m7wRyeLO8M pic.twitter.com/5DHFxpARYq
— Prof Jamie Woodward (@Jamie_Woodward_) March 26, 2021
The researchers reviewed the footprints through 3D models and took a detailed analysis of the sediments and the environment in which the traces were found.
¡Huellas de neandertales en la costa de Huelva!
“Tracking late Pleistocene Neandertals on the Iberian coast”https://t.co/jPh2NXT8lx pic.twitter.com/keYCAuEbD3
— Luis Collantes (@LuisCollantesR) March 14, 2021
The team discovered that the footprints have a round heel, a longitudinal arch, relatively short toes, and a large toe that is not reversible backwards.
And Mayoral: “It represents the oldest record in the Upper Pleistocene of Neanderthal footprints in the world.”
Of the 87 feet, 37 were complete enough to reflect the size of a Neanderthal foot, ranging from 5 inches (12.7 centimeters) to 11 inches (over 27 centimeters).
Source : Sputnik