Scientists in Italy recently made an explosive discovery on the slope of the sleeping Roccamonfina volcano. They uncovered tracks that may be the oldest-known footprints of primitive humans. The prints are at least 325,000 years old!
Scientists said the 56 footprints, with individual toe prints, were unmistakably human. They could belong to one of two early human species that roamed Europe during the Stone Age.
The find was reported in last Thursday's issue of the science journal Nature. The three sets of prints had been preserved in a thick layer of volcanic ash. Paolo Mietto, a researcher at the site, says the humans that made them may have been running from an eruption: "All the tracks move outwards from the volcano's main crater."
One trail of footprints zigzags down the volcano's steep slope, as if the walker was trying to find a safe path. A handprint near another set of tracks suggests that a walker may have lost his balance.
Some scientists argue that these aren't the oldest human footprints ever found. They point to the 3.5-million-year-old tracks discovered in Tanzania in 1979.
Mietto believes the older find belongs to a prehuman species. He hopes to further explore the site of this latest discovery for more clues.