page_title: Laetoli
section_title: Hominin footprints from site S
hierarchical_section_title: Laetoli / Discoveries / Hominin footprints from site S
caption_attribution_description: English: Footprints from Laetoli reported in 2016
context_page_description: 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 and her team 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 Amandus Kwekason of the National Museum of Tanzania and 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.
  Dated to 3.7 million years ago, they were the oldest known evidence of hominin bipedalism at that time. Subsequently, older Ardipithecus ramidus fossils were found with features that suggest bipedalism. With the footprints there were other discoveries excavated at Laetoli including hominin and animal skeletal remains.
context_section_description: In 2015 footprints of the same age as the first reported footprints were unearthed at a site approximately 150 meters south of the original site G footprints. This site is called site S, and the 2 individuals who made the prints are named S1 and S2. S2 is represented by only 1 print, but S1 left a track of prints, the first 4 of which are shown in the composite image, along with an analysis of step and stride lengths. Further analysis indicated that individual S1 was considerably larger than any of the three individuals from site G.
caption: Footprints from Laetoli reported in 2016
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