Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race

Concerning the size of the prints, Robbins (1987, p. 502) stated: “The assumed dimensions of the G-2 footprints do indeed fall well within the adult male range of a sample of American subjects, and the measurements of G-3’s footprints fall in the lower portion of the range for adult females in the American sample. The dimensions of the G-1 footprints, however, are well below dimensional ranges for American adults but within foot length and width ranges for a small sample of immature individuals. . . . Nonetheless, it is mere conjecture at this stage of hominid footprint investigation to suggest that the Site G hominids may have been a male, a female, and an offspring who were walking from an area of falling volcanic ash.”

M. H. Day studied the prints using photogrammetric methods. Photogrammetry is the science of obtaining exact measurements through the use of photography. Photogrammetric methods are extensively used by cartographers in making accurate contour maps from aerial photographs. Day (1985, p. 121), having found the same techniques useful on the miniature geography of footprints, stated: “What these footprints, and their photogrammetric analysis, show is that bipedalism of an apparently human kind was established 3.6 million years ago. The mechanism of weight and force transmission through the foot is extraordinarily close to that of modern man.” His study showed the prints had “close similarities with the anatomy of the feet of the modern human habitually unshod; arguably the normal human condition” (Day 1985, p. 121).

Typically, Day (1985, p. 125) concluded: “There is now no serious dispute as to the upright stance and bipedal gait of the australopithecines.”

But what proof did he have that an australopithecine made the Laetoli footprints? There is no reason to rule out the possibility that some unknown creature, perhaps very much like modern Homo sapiens, was the cause of them.

R. H. Tuttle (1981, p. 91) stated: “The shapes of the prints are indistinguishable from those of striding, habitually barefoot humans.”

Tuttle (1987, p. 517) concluded: “Strictly on the basis of the morphology of the G prints, their makers could be classified as Homo sp. because they are so similar to those of Homo sapiens, but their early date would probably deter many palaeoanthropologists from accepting this assignment. I suspect that if the prints were undated, or if they had been given younger dates, most experts would probably accept them as having been made by Homo.” Tuttle (1987, p. 517) also stated: “They are like small barefoot

Homo sapiens.”

Furthermore, Tuttle held that the A. afarensis foot could not have made the prints. Of the AL 333-115 foot, he said: “The shafts of the proximal phalanges are markedly curved ventrally. This feature is characteristic of certain full-time and part-time arboreal apes and monkeys. . . . It is difficult to imagine a foot with such markedly curved phalanges fitting neatly into the footprints at Laetoli” (Tuttle 1981, p. 91). The same would be true of any australopithecine foot.

Stern and Susman (1983) objected to this. Convinced that the apelike A. afarensis

foot had made the Laetoli footprints, they proposed that the ancient hominids had walked across the volcanic ash with their long toes curled under their feet, as chimpanzees have sometimes been observed to do. Curled-under toes would explain why the A. afarensis footprints at Laetoli so much resembled those made by the relatively short-toed human foot.

Could an australopithecine walking with curled toes have made the humanlike prints? Tuttle (1985) found this extremely unlikely. If the Laetoli hominid had long toes, then, said Tuttle, one would expect to find two patterns of toe impressions—long extended toes and short curled toes, with extra-deep knuckle marks. Tuttle (1985, p. 132) observed: “Neither pattern exists at Laetoli G so we can infer that their lateral toes were quite short.” This meant the long-toed afarensis foot could not have made the prints.

Even Tim White, who believed Australopithecus afarensis made the footprints, stated: “The Stern and Susman (1983) model of toe curling ‘as in the chimpanzee’ predicts substantial variation in lateral toe lengths seen on the Laetoli prints. This prediction is not borne out by the fossil prints” (White and Suwa 1987, p. 495).