Researchers have discovered footprints that show two species of ancient human relatives may have coexisted at the same time 1.5 million years ago. Mul

Fossil footprints discovered in Kenya suggest two different ancient human relatives co-existed

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2024-11-29 15:30:06

Researchers have discovered footprints that show two species of ancient human relatives may have coexisted at the same time 1.5 million years ago.

Multiple sets of footprints in an ancient basin in Kenya reveal that human evolution had more meandering forks in the road than highways.

An international team of researchers has uncovered dozens of 1.5 million year old footprints at an archaeological site called Koobi Fora.

The footprints are thought to belong to two species of extinct hominins that lived at the same time, the team reported on Friday in the journal Science.

Analysis indicated one set of footprints belonged to Homo erectus, an ancestor to modern humans, while the other were made by Paranthropus boisei, a great ape that is considered a side branch to human evolution.

Andy Herries, an archaeologist who was not involved with the research, said although both species were known to have lived around the same time, the paper provided new evidence they may have lived alongside each other.