Proceedings of the Geologists' Association
Available online 31 August 2017
In Press, Corrected Proof — Note to users
Possible hominin footprints from the late Miocene (c. 5.7 Ma) of Crete?
Gerard D. Gierlińskia, Grzegorz Niedźwiedzkib, Martin G. Lockleyc, d, Athanassios Athanassioue, Charalampos Fassoulasf, Zofia Dubickag, Andrzej Boczarowskic, h, i, j, Matthew R. Bennettk, Per Erik Ahlbergb, ,
a Polish Geological Institute — Polish Research Institute, Rakowiecka 4, 00-975 Warsaw, Poland
b Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18A, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden
c Moab Giants, 112W.SR 313 Moab, UT 84532, USA
d Dinosaur Tracks Museum, University of Colorado Denver, P.O. Box 173364, Denver, CO 80217, USA
e Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology-Speleology, Ardittou 34B, GR-11636 Athens, Greece
f University of Crete, Natural History Museum, 71409 Iraklion, Greece
g Faculty of Geology, University of Warsaw, Żwirki i Wigury 93, 02-089 Warsaw, Poland
h Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia, Będzińska 60, 41-200 Sosnowiec, Poland
i Park of Science and Human Evolution, 1 Maja 10, 46-040 Krasiejów, Poland
j Stowarzyszenie Delta (Delta Association), Sandomierska 4, 27-400 Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, Poland
k Institute for the Studies of Landscapes and Human Evolution, Bournemouth University, Poole BH12 5BB, UK
Received 7 April 2017, Revised 24 July 2017, Accepted 25 July 2017, Available online 31 August 2017
Under a Creative Commons license
Open Access
Abstract
We describe late Miocene tetrapod footprints (tracks) from the Trachilos locality in western Crete (Greece), which show hominin-like characteristics. They occur in an emergent horizon within an otherwise marginal marine succession of Messinian age (latest Miocene), dated to approximately 5.7 Ma (million years), just prior to the Messinian Salinity Crisis. The tracks indicate that the trackmaker lacked claws, and was bipedal, plantigrade, pentadactyl and strongly entaxonic. The impression of the large and non-divergent first digit (hallux) has a narrow neck and bulbous asymmetrical distal pad. The lateral digit impressions become progressively smaller so that the digital region as a whole is strongly asymmetrical. A large, rounded ball impression is associated with the hallux. Morphometric analysis shows the footprints to have outlines that are distinct from modern non-hominin primates and resemble those of hominins. The interpretation of these footprints is potentially controversial. The print morphology suggests that the trackmaker was a basal member of the clade Hominini, but as Crete is some distance outside the known geographical range of pre-Pleistocene hominins we must also entertain the possibility that they represent a hitherto unknown late Miocene primate that convergently evolved human-like foot anatomy.
Keywords
Primate; Hominini; Ichnology; Trace fossils; Tracks; Neogene; Greece
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NOTA DESTE BLOGGER:
Nesse período, as atuais teorias evolucionárias explicam nossos ancestrais com pés tipo macacos e lá na África!!!
Darwin, mano, o bicho vai pegar!!!
