Researchers digging in the desert of southeast Eritrea have uncovered what could be the first footprints that are clearly attributed to Homo erectus, a species of hominid widely considered to be a direct ancestor to modern humans.
Estimated to feature a size 12 foot size, the fossilized footprints were possibly made by tall individuals some 800,000 years ago in sandy sediments along the shores of what was once a large lake surrounded by grasslands.
Today the Aalad-Amo site where the H. erectus’s prints were excavated by a team of the National Museum of Eritrea and Rome’s La Sapienza University is occupied by the semi arid Danakil desert.
