These traces are over a million years old. They are evidence of an extraordinary meeting

Over one and a half million years ago, an extraordinary encounter may have occurred on the shore of the lake now called Turkana in Kenya. Representatives of two species of hominins (humanoids most closely related to Homo sapiens), they walked past each other and perhaps even looked at each other. An article describing the possible background of this event was published in the journal “Science”.

Scientists found traces of the encounter in the fossilized mud in an area of ​​just 23 square meters. In addition to the multitude of tracks left by animals, researchers also noticed hominin footprints. Anatomical analysis showed that they belonged to two species, Homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei. The way the mud hardened made it possible to determine that all the traces were left only a few days apart.

“It's surprising that two species with similar size and large bodies can be found in the same landscape,” said Kevin Hatala of Chatham University, lead author of the study. – They were probably aware of each other's existence, saw each other and could interact.

Although researchers could not directly estimate the age of the marks, they were covered by a layer of volcanic sediment dating to 1.52 million years ago. Thanks to the layers of sand and dust protecting them, they have been preserved in excellent condition to this day.

The discovery provides evidence that different hominin species lived in parallel in time and space, and their territories overlapped. Scientists hope it will provide greater insight into human evolution and how species cooperated and competed with each other.

Imprints belong to the category of “trace fossils”, which are not part of an organism but show its habits and behavior. Their immobile nature allows us to observe the activity of given species in specific places.

“This proves beyond a reasonable doubt that not just one, but two different hominins walked on the same surface, literally within hours of each other,” said Craig Feibel of Rutgers University, co-author of the analysis. – This is the first time this has been demonstrated. “I think it's really amazing,” he added.