(ORDO NEWS) — Anthropologists from the University of Seville and the University of Huelva have found traces of an unknown species of ancient man on a beach in Spain, left about 300 thousand years ago.
The discovery was made in the south of the country – the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, Matalascañas beach. The age of the tracks was determined using optically stimulated fluorescence dating.
The results point to the middle Pleistocene, in which climatic changes took place. Traces were left between the warm period (360-300 thousand years ago) and the cold one (300-240 thousand years ago).
At that time, the sea level was lower by 60 meters, and the coastline was 20 km further – ancient people lived in the valley, and not on the seashore. Probably, the cooling of the climate forced the ancient people to move south.
Scientists have found more than three hundred footprints of adults and children, of which 10% are considered well preserved. This is the largest find in terms of the number of footprints.
In addition, there are no traces anywhere in the world dating from this particular period.
According to the shape of the footprints, scientists have established that they were not left by Neanderthals, but by some other type of ancient man.
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.