Evolution theory debunked: Hominid footprints found in Crete

Newly discovered approximately 5.7 million years old human-like footprints in Crete question the common narrative of early human evolution.

The discovery of these newly found securely dated human-like footprints in Crete, suggests a different and far more complex reality, mainly because the footprints were made at a time when previous research puts our ancestors in Africa with ape-like feet.

The origin of the human lineage has been thought to lie in Africa. All fossil hominins older than 1.8 million years came from Africa, leading most researchers to conclude that this was where the group evolved.This has been the case ever since the discovery of fossils of Australopithecus in South and East Africa during the middle years of the 20th century.

After that, fossil discoveries in the same region, including the 3.7 million year old Laetoli footprints in Tanzania have founded the idea further that early hominins not only originated in Africa but remained there isolated from the rest of the world for several million years.

Gerard Gierlinski a paleontologist at the Polish Geological Institute specialized in footprints, first discovered the Crete footprints  but identified them as mammal.

After intensive study and research however, together with another scientist named Grzegorz Niedzwiedzki, he came to the conclusion that the footprints were made by early hominins.

Human feet have a very distinctive shape, different from all other land animals. The combination of a long sole, five short forward-pointing toes without claws, and a hallux ("big toe") that is larger than the other toes, is unique.

The new footprints, from Trachilos in western Crete, have an unmistakably human-like form. This is especially true of the toes. The big toe is similar to our own in shape, size and position; it is also associated with a distinct 'ball' on the sole, which is never present in apes.

The sole of the foot of the dicovered footprints is proportionately shorter than in the Laetoli prints, but it has the same general form.

In short, the shape of the Trachilos prints indicates clearly and unmistakenly that they belong to an early hominin, somewhat more primitive than the Laetoli trackmaker.

What makes this discovery so controversial is the age and location of the prints according to Professor Per Ahlberg at Uppsala University.

At approximately 5.7 million years, they are younger than the oldest known fossil hominin and contemporary with the fossil from Kenya, but they are more than a million years older than the fossil called Ardipithecus ramidus which is a fossil with ape-like feet.

This conflicts with the hypothesis that Ardipithecusis a direct ancestor of later hominins.

Prof. Per Ahlberg involved with the study of the footprints says: 'This discovery challenges the established narrative of early human evolution head-on and is likely to generate a lot of debate. Whether the human origins research community will accept fossil footprints as conclusive evidence of the presence of hominins in the Miocene of Crete remains to be seen.'

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Earlier this year, another group of researchers reinterpreted the fragmentary 7.2 million year old primate Graecopithecus (only known from teeth and jaws) found in Greece and Bulgaria as a hominin.