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Laetoli, Australopithecus afarensis (early human footprints/tracks)

This is a portion of a trail of footprints probably left by 2 Australopithecus afarensis individuals some 3.5 million years ago, at Laetoli, northern Tanzania. Australopithecus afarensis is an extinct hominid which lived between 3.9 and 2.9 million years ago. In common with the younger Australopithecus africanus, A. afarensis was slenderly built. From analysis it has been thought that A. afarensis was ancestral to both the genus Australopithecus and the genus Homo, which includes the modern human species, Homo sapiens. However, analysis of a specimen discovered in 2002 found jaw morphology similar to Australopithecus robustus and cast doubt on its role as a direct human ancestor, concluding that Ardipithecus ramidus is a more likely ancestor.