Where are the oldest footprints in the world?

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How long does a footprint can last on a surface? That may depend on few factors. A footprint on a crowded beach may not even last an hour before it is trampled over. But do you know footprints can last for as long as 120 000 years?

The oldest footprints ever found were discovered at a now dried lake in Saudi Arabia’s Nefud Desert. This lake was once filled with rainwater and that was probably how the footprints were reserved for a long time before a group of archaeologists made a discovery. The footprints were mixtures of animals and human with seven distinct human footprints were identified from it. Dating the sediment around the footprints shows that they can be around 112 000 to 120 000 years old which suggested that it belong to ancient Homo sapiens.

Beside the human footprints, scientist also discovered 107 camel footprints and 43 elephant footprints dating around the same period.

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The Petri Dish is malaysia’s first dedicated science newspaper. Through The Petri Dish we aim to engage the public on the latest developments on biotechnology.