Discovered human footprints buried in the sand 80,000 years

Hundreds of children's footprints near the Normandy coastline help to reveal a bit about the height and life of the ancients.

The team analyzed 257 Neanderthal footprints in Le Rozel, near the coast of Normandy, northern France. They belong to a group of 10-14 people, most of them children, including a 2-year-old baby, The Telegraph reported on 10/9.

Neanderthal footprints under thick sand near the French coast.(Photo: Telegraph).

The size of the feet of a few adults shows that they are very tall, about 190cm. According to the scientists, these footprints were imprinted on the mud, then the wind blew the sand, buried and preserved them for tens of thousands of years.

Amateur archaeologist Yves Roupin found the site in the 1960s. However, it was not until 2012 that excavation was conducted before concerns about wind and tidal erosion. Experts use machines to dig up dozens of meters of sand, reaching the sand layer to store footprints.

They found 257 footprints from 2012-2017, then hundreds more. Each footprint was photographed and modeled in 3D, some of which were molded. In 2017, thanks to new chemical techniques, the team removed hundreds of footprints from Le Rozel for storage elsewhere.

In addition, experts also discovered many stone tools at Le Rozel. They existed before modern humans (Homo sapiens) lived in western Europe.

Scientists conducted excavations of hundreds of footprints at Le Rozel.(Photo: Telegraph).

Neanderthals are close relatives of modern humans in evolutionary history. Before excavating Le Rozel, archaeologists had only discovered nine Neanderthal footprints in Greece, Romania, Gibraltar and France."The keeping of the footprint is very magical and needs a lot of luck. The footprints help reveal a bit about the life of the ancients in a short period of time," said Jeremy Duveau, an expert at the Museum of History. French National Nature, co-author of the study, said.

However, Duveau did not know if the lack of adult figures in Le Rozel was because they died young, were elsewhere or not out at the time. Maybe Neanderthals also want to play on the beach like they do today.

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