The oldest human footprints by continent

AFRICA

1) Laetoli, Tanzania. 3.66 Ma.

Site G, found in 1978: 70 footprints made by three Australopithecus afarensis. Along with footprints were hominin and animal remains and Acheulean objects. The footprints are normally buried to protect them against the elements.
Site S (150 m away from Site G), found in 2015: 14 footprints made by two Australopithecus afarensis walking in the same time frame, in the same direction and at a similar moderate speed as the other three. One of them (hominin S1) had an average stature between 161-168 cm.

2) Ileret, Kenya. 1.5 Ma. They are 97 footprints left by at least 20 Homo erectus individuals, who had a modern foot and stride: a mid-foot arch, straight big toe and heel-to-toe weight transfer. The footprints are indistinguishable from our own.

Ileret footprints. Photo: Hatala, K. G. et al. Footprints reveal direct evidence of group behavior and locomotion in Homo erectus. Sci. Rep. 6, 28766; doi: 10.1038/srep28766 (2016)

AFRICA (made by Homo sapiens)

3) Langebaan Lagoon, South Africa. 117,000 years ago. Called ‘Eve’s footprint’, because they are the oldest known footprints of an anatomically-modern human. This is very relevant considering that less than 40 hominid fossils from the period 100,000 to 200,000 years ago have been found.

EUROPE

4) Happisburgh in Norfolk, UK. 850,000 years old. Assigned by many authors to Homo antecessor. Previously, the record for the oldest set of footprints in Britain was 7,500 years old, which pales in comparison to the Norfolk find.

5) Roccamonfina volcano, Italy. They were the oldest footprints in Europe before the Norfolk find. Called the “devil’s trails”, they are preserved in volcanic ash atop the volcano. Assigned to Homo heildelbergensis. 350,000 years old.

Human footprints at Roccamonfina volcano. Credit: Mauro Fermariello

EUROPE (made by Homo sapiens)

6) Theopetra cave, Greece. Four human footprints preserved in a reddish clay sediment, in association with various posterior hearths along the same layer which are dated to 46,327 BP.

Theopetra footprints. Photo credit: Facorellis et al, 2001

7) Ciur-Izbuc Cave, Romania. 36,500 years old. More than 400 footprints!

AMERICA

8) Pilauco, Chile. Dated to 15,600 years, and associated with megafauna bones, plant material and unifacial lithic tools. This site might represent further evidence for a pre-Clovis South American colonization of northern Patagonia, as proposed for the nearby Monte Verde site. Monte Verde is a 12,5 ka open-air site with remains of a small settlement of 20-30 people where a small child also left a footprint.

Moreno K et al (2019) A late Pleistocene human footprint from the Pilauco archaeological site, northern Patagonia, Chile. PLoS ONE 14(4): e0213572. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0213572

9) Calvert Island, British Columbia, Canada. 29 footprints along the shoreline of Calvert Island published on June 22nd, 2015. They are believed to be of a man, woman and child. At the base of the footprint track, pieces of preserved wood were radiocarbon dated to circa 13,000 years old.

Footprints at Calvert Island, B.C., USA

10) Chihuahuan desert, Mexico. 10,550 years old. 2 footprints, left and right. At the same site there are 11 other footprints dated 7,250 years old.

11) Lake Managua, Nicaragua. 6,000 years old.

AUSTRALIA

12) Willandra Lakes, New South Wales. 20,000 years old.

ASIA

13) Margalla Hills, Pakistan. 2 footprints made by Homo erectus 1 million years ago.

ASIA (made by Homo sapiens)

14) Jeju Island, Korea. More than 100 human footprints and other thousands of horse, elephant, bird and deer fossil tracks. 50,000 years ago. Recent studies set a more recent dating of between 19-25,000 years.