Scientists from Nelson Mandela University (South Africa) announced that they found the oldest traces of representatives of our species on the southern coast of Cape Town. The scientific article was published in the journal Ichnos.

opening details

A total of seven traces were found, varying with age.

• The youngest is about 71,000 years old.
• The oldest trace with age, 153,000 years, the most interesting – is the oldest known trace of Homo sapiens in the world. Found in Garden Route National Park.

The traces were discovered during excavations in rocks called “eolianites”, which are ancient petrified dunes. They are prone to erosion, so archaeologists must work quickly before the tracks are destroyed by the ocean and wind.

The site was dated by the optically stimulated luminescence method. This method shows how long a grain of sand is exposed to sunlight. For sand deposits that quickly fill in the traces left behind, this is a reliable method of dating. The dates are confirmed by archaeological data: working tools, decorations, methods of mollusc extraction.

The authors of the work say that this is not the end. They suspect that older traces are still waiting to be discovered on the southern coast of Africa. The scientists want to extend their research to older sediments in the region ranging from 400,000 to 2 million years old.