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Laetoli toes andAustralopithecus afarensis

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Human Evolution

Abstract

The probable misfit between feet, particularly toes II–V, of 3.0-million-year-oldAustralopithecus afarensis from Hadar, Ethiopia, and the 3.5-million-year-old hominid footprints at Site G, Laetoli, Tanzania, casts doubt thatA. Afarensis made the Laetoli trails. We suggest that another species ofAustralopithecus or an anonymous genus of the Hominidae, with remarkably humanoid feet, walked at Laetoli. It would be imprudent to declare thatHomo was present at Laetoli 3.5 million years ago (my) because there is no evidence of brain expansion, advanced tool manufacture, or other non-locomotor hallmarks of the human condition at Site G.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Committee on Evolutionary Biology, the Morris Fishbein Center for the Study of the History of Science and Medicine, 60637, Chicago, IL

    R. H. Tuttle (Professor in Anthropology)

  2. the College The University of Chicago, 60637, Chicago, IL

    R. H. Tuttle (Professor in Anthropology)

  3. Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Kutztown University, 19530, Kutztown, PA

    D. M. Webb

  4. Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, 90024, Los Angeles, CA

    M. Baksh

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  1. R. H. Tuttle
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  2. D. M. Webb
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  3. M. Baksh
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Tuttle, R.H., Webb, D.M. & Baksh, M. Laetoli toes andAustralopithecus afarensis . Hum. Evol. 6, 193–200 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02438142

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02438142

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