Debate on dating Little Foot continues

Ron Clarke working on the “Little Foot” skeleton. Source: Maropeng

 
Wits University Palaeontologist, Professor Francis Thackeray says he stands by the original findings regarding dating Australopithecus fossil, Little Foot.

This comes after new findings by University of Johannesburg’s Prof Jan Kramers and Australia's James Cook University’s Prof Paul Dirks revealed that the fossil was much younger than originally thought.

Little foot was an Australopithecus individual, who lived more than two million years ago in Southern Africa. Australopithecus is an extinct group of the human species.

The fossil is one of a few complete skeletons that has been found of this general group of species.

The age of “Little Foot” has been hotly debated ever since its discovery at the Sterkfontein Caves at the Cradle of Humankind world heritage area.

Little Foot was named for the four ankle bones which were found in 1980. The remainder of the skeleton was uncovered from 1997 onwards.

Thackeray says the original date of 3,7 million was based on a sample of nine rocks... (Audios) SABC News


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