Human footprints over 100,000 years old in Morocco

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Archaeological site of Lixus-Larache. The prints were discovered in the area demarcated by the dotted red line.

Agence France-Presse

More than 80 human footprints, approximately 100,000 years old, have been found on the coast of northern Morocco and are considered by researchers to be the oldest known in North Africa and the southern Mediterranean.

These Homo sapiens footprints, left by a minimum of five individuals, including children, and revealed on Monday to AFP, were discovered in 2022 in Larache, 90 km south of Tangier, by a team of Moroccan, French, Spanish and German researchers.

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The footprints were discovered in Larache, 90 km to the south of Tangier.

This group of individuals crossed the beach towards the sea, probably in search of food and shellfish, they were probably fishermen or gatherers, explained Anass Sedrati, curator of the archaeological site of Lixus-Larache.

According to these researchers, whose study was the subject of a publication in the journal Nature(New window) (in English) in January, it is one of the best preserved human trace sites in the world and the oldest in North Africa and the southern Mediterranean. p>

This discovery took place during a field measurement mission in July 2022, as part of a research project scientific on the origin and dynamics of the rock blocks which litter the coastline, explain the researchers, led by the French University Bretagne Sud.

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In 2017, remnants of ;Homo sapiensdated, according to researchers, to 300,000 years ago had been unearthed at another site in northwest Morocco, pushing back the estimated origin of our species by 100,000 years.

The discovery of the footprints in Larache is further proof of the importance of this region in the history of the human species, noted Anass Sedrati, noting that traces of animals had also been discovered.

This remarkable heritage site must be preserved even if it is threatened by the ;sea level rise and storms, according to Mouncef Sedrati, head of the research project.

In the short term, other footprints will be discovered as the sediments erode, according to this official. It would therefore be interesting to follow this erosion and uncover new complementary traces which would provide more details on the group of Homo sapiens who lived along or resided on this Barachoise coast.