Ancient human footprints discovered by B.C. family on vacation in South Africa

3/4. Helm said he believes the human footprints belong to a family. (Charles Helm)

A B.C. family's hobby of hunting for fossils has led to the discovery of a rare set of ancient human footprints on the south coast of South Africa.

The existence of the tracks, estimated to be approximately 90,000 years old, was revealed in an article published in the open-access journal Scientific Reports, maintained by the editors of the UK publication Nature.

The lead author of the report is Charles Helm, a former family physician in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., who is originally from South Africa.

Helm's interest in paleontology began in 2001 when his son and a friend found dinosaur tracks while tubing in Flatbed Creek near Tumbler Ridge, in northeastern B.C. ...

... Over the past few years, he and his family have been exploring the country's coastline, uncovering tracks from lions, elephants, and "extinct giant horses," Helm told CBC Daybreak North host Carolina de Ryk.

But it was on a visit in 2016 that they found what Helm called "the holy grail": a series of human footprints on the roof of a cave. [...] CBC News  / Link 2


Actualización. Nuevo rastro de pisadas de homininos en la costa de Sudáfrica
Las huellas tendrían una antigüedad de unos 90.000 años, y podrían pertenecer a Homo sapiens

 

Aquel día, durante unas de sus habituales vacaciones en Sudáfrica, Charles Helm debió decirse, "voy a meterme en esta cuevecilla en la que solo quepo tumbado a ver esas calizas tan interesantes..." Este médico canadiense interesado en los fósiles dio con lo que han resultado ser las improntas en negativo de pisadas de homininos de unos 90.000 años de antigüedad, que se podían observar en relieve en el techo y las paredes de una pequeña cueva en la costa de Cape South, Sudáfrica. El impresionante hallazgo ha sido objeto de una investigación publicada en Scientific Reports, y viene a contribuir a cubrir un importante periodo, el Pleistoceno final, del que aún no se conocían evidencias de este tipo...