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Little Foot

The South African "Little Foot" fossil found in 1997 is not as old as researchers earlier thought. A new study discovered that the bones were more than million years younger than the previous estimate. This would mean that the fossils, which were mainly foot bones, did not belong to the direct human line. The bones seemed to be a combination of human and ape-like features, giving rise to the theory that they might be the bones of a direct human ancestor. The Sterkfontein cave system, where the bones were found had a complex geology that made dating difficult. The current study by British archaeologists and geophysicists used radioactive decay of uranium to date the fossils and arrived at a date of 2.2 million years. These findings were reported in the journal Science.

COMPILED BY R. KRITHIKA

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