Footprints discovered in the sand on a Spanish beach were left by a Neanderthal child 100,000 years ago “ jumping irregularly as if they were dancing, ” research shows.
The prints were uncovered due to stormy weather and high tide in June 2020, and were spotted by a few biologists walking on the sand.
They stumbled upon what was later revealed to be a Neanderthal watering hole, dating back 100,000 years to the late Pleistocene.
The site, on Matalascanas Beach in Spain, is located between Huelva and Cadiz, and is where the ancestors of modern humans drank, hunted, searched for seafood and even let their children play in the water alongside animals.
Paleontologists from the University of Huelva say this is the earliest known example of Neanderthal footprints in the Iberian Peninsula.
Footprints discovered in the sand on a Spanish beach were left by a Neanderthal child 100,000 years ago “ jumping irregularly as if they were dancing, ” research shows.
They stumbled upon what was later revealed to be a Neanderthal watering hole, dating back 100,000 years to the late Pleistocene.
This image shows a close-up of the sand where the ancient Neanderthals once stood
At least 87 footprints have been found at the site, including evidence of a Neanderthal child jumping and possibly even dancing through the sand.
According to study author Eduardo Mayoral, they were discovered in a place that was slowly coming to light as a result of an eroding sand dune.
He says it may be more difficult to track early Neanderthals because there are often no bones left or analyzed so far, so they rely on footprints and other “ fossil data. ”
“The biological and ethological information of the ancient human groups when there are no bone remains is provided by the study of their fossil footprints, which show us certain ‘frozen’ moments of their existence,” he explained.
They assessed the footprints using 3D models and made detailed sedimentary analyzes to characterize them and the environment in which they were found.
The footprints had a rounded heel, a longitudinal arch, relatively short toes, and a non-opposable big toe, the team found.
“They represent the oldest record of Neanderthal footprints in the upper Pleistocene in the world,” Mayoral added.
Of the 87 footprints, 37 were complete enough to represent the size of the Neanderthal foot, from 12.5 cm to 28.5 cm long.
The site, on Matalascanas beach in Spain, is located between Huelva and Cadiz, and is where the ancestors of modern man drank, hunted, searched for seafood and even let their children play in the water alongside animals
Of the 87 footprints, 37 were complete enough to represent the size of the Neanderthal foot, from 5 inches to 11 inches long
This allowed the team to calculate that the people at the ‘watering hole’ were between 9 and 1 meter tall, and the majority between 1 meter and 1 meter.
“The wide range of footprint sizes suggests the existence of a social group integrated by individuals of different age groups, but dominated, however, by non-adult individuals,” Mayoral said.
Of the footprints, seven were from children, 15 from adolescents and nine from adults – with the smallest two being a six-year-old.
The longest four footprints were of someone over six feet, which Mayoral says is significantly higher than the expected maximum height of a Neanderthal, so may have been incorrect or may have been taken by a smaller person with more movement.
This shows areas where people and animals would have once stood, the MTS area is the Matalascañas Trampled Area, the name of the beach, and HTS is the Hominin Trampled Surface, revealed after storms and where the Neanderthal once walked
The footprints had a rounded heel, a longitudinal arch, relatively short toes, and a non-opposable big toe, the team found.
There was a microbial mat, suggesting an area of life that was once underwater, as seen in this close-up showing halite fungal residue, possibly linked to salt water.
“The wide range of footprint sizes suggests the existence of a social group integrated by individuals of different age groups, but dominated by non-adult individuals,” Mayoral said.
He said they could better understand the behavior of the Neanderthal group by studying the positioning of the footprints.
“Neanderthals are hunter-gatherers, so the reasons for their presence are mainly due to travel, resource transportation or foraging strategies,” Mayoral added.
Nearly a quarter of the group was made up of children, with most of the footprints on the edge of what once would have been the watering hole itself.
“This could include a hunting strategy, sneaking up on animals in the water, probably waterfowl and waders or small carnivores, or even looking for fish or shellfish for fish or mollusks,” he said.
The findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Neanderthals, a close relative of modern humans, became extinct 40,000 years ago
The Neanderthals were a close human ancestor who mysteriously died about 40,000 years ago.
The species lived in Africa with early humans for millennia before migrating to Europe about 300,000 years ago.
They were later joined by humans, who entered Eurasia about 48,000 years ago.
The Neanderthals were a cousin of humans, but not a direct ancestor – the two species are separate from a common ancestor – who perished about 50,000 years ago. Depicted is an exhibition of a Neanderthal museum
These were the original ‘cavemen’, historically thought to be stupid and brutal in comparison to modern humans.
In recent years, and especially in the past decade, it has become increasingly clear that we are going short for Neanderthals.
A growing body of evidence points to a more sophisticated and multi-talented kind of “caveman” than anyone thought possible.
It now seems likely that Neanderthals had told them, buried their dead, painted them, and even interbred with humans.
They used body art such as pigments and beads, and they were the very first artists, with Neanderthal cave art (and symbolism) in Spain apparently some 20,000 years older than the earliest modern human art.
They are believed to have hunted and fished on land. However, they became extinct about 40,000 years ago after the success of Homo sapiens in Europe.