From ScienceDaily (July 20, 2011), we learn: “Ancient Footprints Show Human-Like Walking Began Nearly 4 Million Years Ago”:
Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found that ancient footprints in Laetoli, Tanzania, show that human-like features of the feet and gait existed almost two million years earlier than previously thought.
Many earlier studies have suggested that the characteristics of the human foot, such as the ability to push off the ground with the big toe, and a fully upright bipedal gait, emerged in early Homo, approximately 1.9 million years-ago.
Because that suited Darwinism. Footprints from 3.7 mya show more similarity to human stride than that of apes.
Dr Bill Sellers, from the University of Manchester’s Faculty of Life Sciences, said: “The shape of the human foot is probably one of the most obvious differences between us and our nearest living relatives, the great apes. The difference in foot function is thought to be linked to the fact that humans spend all of their time on the ground, but there has been a lot of debate as to when in the fossil record these changes occurred. Our work shows that there is considerably more functional overlap than previously expected.
Prediction: Found artifacts will push back the dates as well, then. If you don’t need your hands to walk, …
File under: That exploding file cabinet, Earlier Than Thought. (Repurposed from Proofs of Darwinism, which was nearly empty for years and years.) More earlier than thoughts.