據(jù)2月27日的《科學(xué)》雜志報道，Matthew Bennett及其同僚說,，對肯尼亞Ileret附近細(xì)沙中留下的古老腳印的分析表明，我們的祖先之一在至少150萬年前就已經(jīng)形成了現(xiàn)代人一樣的步伐。
這些腳印是自人們在30年前在坦桑尼亞的Laetoli遺址所發(fā)現(xiàn)的375萬年前的著名腳印之后的該類發(fā)現(xiàn)的第一例,。Laetoli腳印證實(shí)了某些早期的人科動物是兩足動物，但它們的步子具有某些猿類一樣的特征,，比如它們的大腳趾是向外張開的,。Robin Huw Crompton 和 Todd Pataky 在一則相關(guān)的Perspective中對其進(jìn)行了討論。這次的對Ileret腳印的分析是在激光掃描的幫助下進(jìn)行的,，該腳印顯示了現(xiàn)代人步伐的所有的特點(diǎn)：這是一只弓狀的腳,、大腳趾與其它腳趾呈順列形式及在邁步時特征性地將體重從腳后跟轉(zhuǎn)移到跖球再轉(zhuǎn)移到大腳趾。
根據(jù)從這些足印得出的該人科動物的身高和體重所作的估計,，這些腳印可能是由匠人/直立人（Homo ergaster/erectus）踏踩出來的,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Science 27 February 2009:DOI: 10.1126/science.1168132
Early Hominin Foot Morphology Based on 1.5-Million-Year-Old Footprints from Ileret, Kenya
Matthew R. Bennett,1* John W.K. Harris,2 Brian G. Richmond,3,4 David R. Braun,5 Emma Mbua,6 Purity Kiura,6 Daniel Olago,7 Mzalendo Kibunjia,6 Christine Omuombo,7 Anna K. Behrensmeyer,8 David Huddart,9 Silvia Gonzalez9
Hominin footprints offer evidence about gait and foot shape, but their scarcity, combined with an inadequate hominin fossil record, hampers research on the evolution of the human gait. Here, we report hominin footprints in two sedimentary layers dated at 1.51 to 1.53 million years ago (Ma) at Ileret, Kenya, providing the oldest evidence of an essentially modern human–like foot anatomy, with a relatively adducted hallux, medial longitudinal arch, and medial weight transfer before push-off. The size of the Ileret footprints is consistent with stature and body mass estimates for Homo ergaster/erectus, and these prints are also morphologically distinct from the 3.75-million-year-old footprints at Laetoli, Tanzania. The Ileret prints show that by 1.5 Ma, hominins had evolved an essentially modern human foot function and style of bipedal locomotion.
1 School of Conservation Sciences, Bournemouth University, Poole, BH12 5BB, UK.
2 Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University, 131 George Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA.
3 Center for the Advanced Study of Hominid Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA.
4 Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013–7012, USA.
5 Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa.
6 National Museums of Kenya, Post Office Box 40658-00100, Nairobi, Kenya.
7 Department of Geology, University of Nairobi, Post Office Box 30197, Nairobi, Kenya.
8 Department of Paleobiology, MRC 121, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 20013–7012, USA.
9 School of Biological and Earth Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, L3 3AF, UK
