A team of archaeologists have recently uncovered 300,000-year-old footprints in what is now known as Schöningen, in Lower Saxony. These footprints are now the oldest to be discovered in Germany, and provide more insight into mankind’s evolution and beginnings.
The researchers responsible for this discovery published their findings in a study for Quartenary Science Reviews. It includes a bigger-picture idea of what the surrounding landscape might have looked like at the time that this early species of human, dubbed the “Heidelberg people,” walked the Earth.
Features of this would-be landscape include a pine and open-birch forest, a lake located within it, and a number of now-extinct large mammals. While this may seem more speculative than anything, the team of archaeologists also found prints from such animals during their research, making it highly likely that early man and animal not only lived in the area at the same time, but were able to coexist on some level.
The presence of not just one, but three distinct humanoid footprints in this archaeological discovery further corroborate the researchers’ coexistence hypothesis. It is likely that two of the three footprints belonged to younger individuals. The study surmises, “Based on the tracks, including those of children and juveniles, this was probably a family outing rather than a group of adult hunters.”
What the tracks also confirm is that the early humans of Schöningen “dwelled on lake or river shores with shallow water,” according to study researcher Flavio Altamura. The Heidelberg people would have been able to forage different plants, leaves, shoots, fruits, and mushrooms in the area depending on the season—and so would their fauna friends.
Among these extinct animal species that could have rubbed shoulders with early man are the Palaeoloxodon antiquus, or a straight-tusked elephant, and a species of the Pleistocene rhinoceros. If these identifications are correct, it would be the first of its kind in today’s Europe, and would raise further questions for how life was like all those millennia ago.
This remarkable archaeological discovery not only deepens our understanding of early human life 300,000 years ago, but also paints a vivid picture of possible coexistence between the human race and ancient fauna. The footprints remind us that even ages ago, humanity was already leaving its mark—even if that mark was as little as a footprint in the mud.
A new study has revealed 300,000-year-old “Homo heidelbergensis” footprints in Schöningen, Lower Saxony.
The footprints reveal more information not just about early man, but about how they may have interacted with others in their shared environment.
Researchers identified three distinct footprints, two of which appeared to have belonged to youths.
The presence of these human footprints, combined with prints of now-extinct large mammals found near the same site, implies that early man coexisted with these ancient fauna.
Sources: Fossil footprints at the late Lower Paleolithic site of Schöningen (Germany): A new line of research to reconstruct animal and hominin paleoecology
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