An international team of researchers discovered 85 human footprints dating from between 90,300 and 7,600 years ago in Larache, northwest Morocco, according to the journal Nature.
Found on a rocky beach in Larache, these Homo sapiens footprints belong to several individuals from different age groups. The extent of the footprints extend over an area of approximately 2,800 square meters.
Geological analysis and optically stimulated luminescence dating of rock specimens on-site place these footprints in the late Pleistocene period, or more precisely, during the last interglacial period.
Morphometric analysis of the footprints reveals that they were made by a group comprised of young children, adolescents, and adults, thereby emphasizing the multi-generational nature of Homo sapiens samples from that time.
The region in which the footprints were discovered–occupied by hominids for at least 2.4 million years, according to the study–has yielded fossils of the first Homo sapiens and evidence of a significant presence during the Middle Paleolithic period, particularly in coastal regions of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. The richness of Mousterian and Aterian industries attests to human presence during the Upper Pleistocene period, primarily with respect to coastal environments.
According to the journal, the Larache footprints are, therefore, the oldest attributed to Homo sapiens in Northern Africa and the Southern Mediterranean.
This discovery presents an opportunity to piece together our knowledge of the patchy ichnological context of the North African coast through the application of a multiproxy research approach.