New footprints from Laetoli (Tanzania) provide evidence for marked body size variation in early hominins

• Published in: eLife Vol. 5
• Main Authors: Masao, Fidelis T, Ichumbaki, Elgidius B, Cherin, Marco, Barili, Angelo, Boschian, Giovanni, Iurino, Dawid A, Menconero, Sofia, Moggi-Cecchi, Jacopo, Manzi, Giorgio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England eLife Science Publications, Ltd 14-12-2016; eLife Sciences Publications Ltd; eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
• Subjects: Animals; Archaeology; Australopithecus afarensis; Body Size; body size estimates; Bones; Cultural heritage; Discovery and exploration; Endangered & extinct species; Estimates; Footprints; Footprints, Fossil; Genomics and Evolutionary Biology; Hominidae - anatomy & histology; Hominids; Hominini; Laetoli; Natural history; Phenotype; Physiological aspects; Pliocene; Sexual dimorphism; Tanzania; Tanzania; body size estimates; evolutionary biology; Australopithecus afarensis; genomics; Hominini; Laetoli; Pliocene; footprints
• ISSN: 2050-084X; 2050-084X
• DOI: 10.7554/elife.19568

Laetoli is a well-known palaeontological locality in northern Tanzania whose outstanding record includes the earliest hominin footprints in the world (3.66 million years old), discovered in 1978 at Site G and attributed to
. Here, we report hominin tracks unearthed in the new Site S at Laetoli and referred to two bipedal individuals (S1 and S2) moving on the same palaeosurface and in the same direction as the three hominins documented at Site G. The stature estimates for S1 greatly exceed those previously reconstructed for
from both skeletal material and footprint data. In combination with a comparative reappraisal of the Site G footprints, the evidence collected here embodies very important additions to the Pliocene record of hominin behaviour and morphology. Our results are consistent with considerable body size variation and, probably, degree of sexual dimorphism within a single species of bipedal hominins as early as 3.66 million years ago.