A team of scientific researchers have shed new light on what an ancient human species that walked in volcanic ash looked like – around 350,000 years after they left footprints initially attributed by frightened locals to the devil.
An eruption of the Roccamonfina volcano in southern Italy in the lower Paleolithic era could hold vital clues about our origins – with scientists piecing together what our distant ancestors might have looked like based on the footprints they left in the soft rock, spawning the name Ciampate del Diavolo (devil’s footprints),
The prints appear to have been made by four different individuals of differing shapes and sizes, scientists writing for the Journal of Quaternary Science believe, although equations previously used to determine body height and mass of ancient humans were complicated by the steep volcanic slope.
Also taking into consideration the slipperiness of the volcanic surface, which would have been cooled but soft when our ancestors climbed up it, the researchers concluded that the walkers, of whom there were at least four, had an average weight of 60 kilograms (9 stone) and height of around 5ft 3.
The measurements fit with estimates of how our Homo heidelbergensis ancestors would have looked – with the extinct species thought to have traversed Europe before evolving into Neanderthals and then modern humans.
The footprints were captured in the dried molten pyroclastic material produced by volcanic eruptions – and the varying sizes of the marks, indicating a height variation of between 5ft and 5ft 9, could hint at the walking group being a family of women, children and at least one man.
While the scientists concluded that they could only make “vague conclusions” that the footprints were compatible with existing understandings of the height range of Homo heidelbergensis, other studies have speculated about the appearance of some of our oldest known relatives.
They had large brows, large “braincases” and flatter faces than older species, according to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, and adapted short and wide bodies to weather colder European climates, which they were the first humans to venture into.
Homo heidelbergensis were also the first of our ancestors to hunt large animals using weapons including wooden spears and to build shelters out of wood and rock.
The species dates back around 1.3 million years, with the first indications of their presence around Ceprano in central Italy around 1 million years ago – and they are often considered a key evolutionary link between modern-day humans and Homo ergaster, the first of our ancestors recognisable as humans.
They are also thought to be the first human species to live in Britain, with fossil evidence suggesting they arrived in the country around 500,000 years ago. The remains of a leg bone and two teeth were found at Boxgrove in West Sussex in 1993.
When our ancient ancestors climbed down the volcanic scope in Italy, the ground was “still slippery and soft”, with a “coarse and uneven surface” that rocked their “gait and direction”, the Quaternary researchers found.
If nothing else, the new studies offer a fascinating insight into the everyday experiences of some of our most ancient – and fundamental – origins.
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