They are several tens of thousands of years older than the pyramids of Giza. More than 80 human footprints, some 100,000 years old, have been found on the coast of northern Morocco and are already considered by researchers to be the oldest known in North Africa and the southern Mediterranean.
These Homo sapiens footprints, left by at least five individuals including children and discovered on Monday, were discovered in 2022 in Larache, 90 km south of Tangier, by a team of Moroccan, French, Spanish and German researchers.
“In Search of Food and Shellfish”
“This group of people crossed the beach towards the sea, probably in search of food and shellfish, probably they were fishermen or gatherers,” explained Anas Sedrati, curator of the archaeological site of Lixus Larache.
According to these researchers, whose study was the subject of a publication in the scientific journal Nature in January, it is one of the best-preserved human footprint sites in the world and the oldest in North Africa and the southern Mediterranean.
“This discovery occurred during a field measurement mission in July 2022 as part of a research project on the origin and dynamics of stone blocks (boulders) that litter the coastline,” explained the researchers, led by the French University of Brittany. Court.
Other remains have been discovered in this region
In 2017, the remains of Homo sapiens, estimated by researchers to be 300,000 years old, were discovered elsewhere in northwestern Morocco, pushing back the estimated origins of our species by 100,000 years.
The discovery of footprints in Larache is further proof of the region’s importance in the history of the human race, said Anass Sedrati, noting that animal footprints were also discovered.
“We must preserve this remarkable heritage site, even if it is threatened by rising sea levels and storms,” said Mounsef Sedrati, leader of the research project.
“In the short term, more traces will be discovered as the sediments erode,” the official said. “It would therefore be interesting to follow this erosion and discover new additional traces that would allow us to provide more detailed information about the group of Homo sapiens that lived along or lived on this coast of Laraja.”
Source: Le Parisien
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