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Laetoli

5:48

Laetoli Footprints: Protecting Traces of our Earliest Ancestors

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The Laetoli Footprints | The Oldest Human Ancestor Footprints

17:03

OLDEST Footprints Ever Discovered? Where Are They Located, Laetoli Or Trachilos?

1:13:31

Current research and conservation efforts at Laetoli palaeoanthropological site in northern Tanzania

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Hunting for the Laetoli foot prints.

Laetoli is a site in Tanzania, dated to the Plio-Pleistocene and famous for its hominin footprints, preserved in volcanic ash. The site of the Laetoli footprints is located 45 km south of Olduvai gorge. The location and tracks were discovered by archaeologist Mary Leakey in 1976, and were excavated by 1978. Based on analysis of the footfall impressions "The Laetoli Footprints" provided convincing evidence for the theory of bipedalism in Pliocene hominins and received significant recognition by scientists and the public. Since 1998, paleontological expeditions have continued under the leadership of Dr. Amandus Kwekason of the National Museum of Tanzania and Dr. Terry Harrison of New York University, leading to the recovery of more than a dozen new hominin finds, as well as a comprehensive reconstruction of the paleoecology.
  • Background 

  • Discoveries 

  • Preservation and conservation