Discovery of footprints suggests that human creatures may have wandered around Crete.
The human foot is distinctive. Our five toes lack claws, we normally present the sole flat to the ground, and our first and second fingers are longer than the smaller ones. Compared to our fellow primates, our large toes are in line with the long axis of the foot not sticking to one side.
In fact, some would say that one of the defining characteristics of being part of the human clade is the shape of our foot. So imagine our surprise when we discovered traces of fossils with remarkable features, human-like in Trachilos, Crete, which are 5.7 million years old. This research is controversial as it suggests that the earliest human ancestors may have wandered through southern Europe as well as east Africa.
The period corresponds to a geologic time interval known as Miocene. The footprints are small footprints made by someone walking erect on two legs there are 29 of them in total. They have a size of 94 mm to 223 mm, and have a shape and shape very similar to human footprints. The traces of non-human apes seem very different; the foot is shaped more like a human hand, with the big toe stuck on the side of the sole and sticking sideways.
