Further Research of the Willandra Lakes Fossil Footprint Site, Southeastern Australia

Journal of Human Evolution 52 (2007) 711e715 News and Views Further research of the Willandra Lakes fossil footprint site, southeastern Australia Steve Webb* Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Bond University, Gold Coast QLD 4229, Australia Received 31 August 2006; accepted 2 February 2007 Keywords: Fossil footprints; Ice Age; Willandra Lakes; Paleoenvironment Introduction prevailing westerly winds. Consequently, there is a gradual un- covering of prints due to these natural causes, and in some This paper presents further results from continuing research parts of the site yet to be formally investigated, prints are ap- on a large fossil human footprint site dated to between 23e pearing in this manner. Initially, the prints are visible as faint 19 ka and located in the Willandra World Heritage Area, outlines filled in with clay. The clay is compact but loose and western New South Wales, Australia. It follows publication not the same consistency as the print surface, so it is easily of initial investigations undertaken in 2003e2004 (Webb removed. et al., 2006). That paper described the discovery of 123 adult The total number of prints has now almost tripled and the and juvenile footprints, including eight individual trackways number of trackways has risen from eight to 23. In addition across a paleowetland close to one of a series of fossil lakes. to the 15 new trackways, Trackway 1 (T1) has now grown Here I report the discovery of additional trackways and other from 14 to 29 prints, T2 from 13 to 24, T3 from 11 to 27, marks from further excavation. The work has broadened our T4 from 15 to 22, T5 from four to eight, T7 from seven to understanding of the activities of Ice Age groups inhabiting nine, and T8 from seven to 11 (Table 1). The new trackways the region, as well as the environment in which they lived. T0 and T9e22 range from four to 29 prints in length and com- prise a total of 240 new trackway prints. These, together with the previously reported 123 trackway prints and an estimated Further opening of the site 200 isolated prints, constitute a new total of 563 prints for the site. Another 150 prints are present, but they are incom- The original prints occurred on a naturally exposed and plete and difficult to record for size or as defined trackways. 2 partially excavated 700 m magnesite clay pavement. The Some appear only as heel or toe marks. The T0 trackway com- area has now been extended to the north, opening a further prises seven prints that have begun to erode out on the eastern 2 150 m . The work removed a thin covering of cracked and par- side of the site. These average 260 mm long and run parallel tially fragmented green-gray hardpan clay, which is consoli- T1e5 and T8. dated and hard to remove on the eastern edge. The hardpan continues eastward, disappearing under increasingly deeper Analysis dune sand, which has helped preserve the pavement. Due to its degraded condition, the cracked clay layer is easily re- The large sample of prints now available calls for a more moved, but its fragility also predisposes it to removal by detailed assessment of stature, speed, sex, and even weight of many individuals and provides refinement of previously * Tel.: þ61 07 55952587 (W); fax: þ61 07 55952672 (W). published data. The new analysis brings to bear a series of E-mail address: [email protected] comparative anthropometric studies of various groups of 0047-2484/$ - see front matter Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2007.02.001 712 Table 1 Reconstruction of stature, weight, and gait from the fossil footprints Track/sex Weight (kg)* Age Foot length Stride length Foot lengths Stature Relative Relative Velocity Stride Cadence (steps/ Speed Sp** (cm) l (m) L per stride l0 (m) S** stride L0** speed V0** V** (m/s) time T** min) C** (km/hr) T0 Male 58.7/56.6 Adult 26.0 2.76 10.6 1.71 1.61 3.49 5.97 0.46 261 21.6 S. Webb / Journal of Human Evolution 52 (2007) 711 T1 Male 67.6/65.3 Adult 30.0 2.29 7.6 1.97 1.16 1.60 3.15 0.73 164 11.3 T2 Male 61.1/59.0 Adult 27.0 2.48 9.2 1.78 1.39 2.46 4.38 0.57 211 15.7 T3 Male 64.5/62.3 Adult 28.5 2.70 9.5 1.88 1.44 2.68 5.04 0.54 222 18.0 T4 Male 61.1/59.0 Adult 27.0 2.83 10.5 1.78 1.59 3.39 6.03 0.47 255 21.7 T5 Male 62.1/60.0 Adult 27.5 3.23 11.7 1.81 1.79 4.49 8.13 0.40 300 29.1 T6 Juvenile d 9 yrs 20.5 1.17 5.7 1.29 0.91 1.11 2.90 0.40 300 10.5 T7 Juvenile d 4 yrs 16.0 1.17 7.3 1.00 1.17 2.03 2.03 0.47 255 5.1 T8 Male 66.6/64.3 Adult 29.5 3.73 12.7 1.94 1.92 5.31 10.30 0.36 333 37.3 T9 Juvenile d 9 yrs 20.7 1.18 5.7 1.30 0.91 1.11 1.03 1.15 104 3.7 T10 Male 57.3/55.3 Adult 25.4 1.21 4.8 1.67 0.73 0.66 1.10 1.10 109 4.0 T11 Juvenile d 8 yrs 19.8 1.00 5.1 1.25 0.80 0.82 1.03 0.97 124 3.7 T12 Juvenile d 9 yrs 20.7 1.17 5.7 1.30 0.90 1.09 1.42 0.82 146 5.1 T13 Juvenile d 6 yrs 17.5 0.99 5.7 1.10 0.90 1.09 1.20 0.83 145 4.3 T14 Juvenile d 4 yrs 15.9 1.00 6.3 1.00 1.00 1.40 1.40 0.71 169 5.1 T15 Female 49.0/46.0 Adult 24.0 2.61 10.9 1.58 1.65 4.60 7.27 0.36 333 26.1 T16 Male? 55.2/53.3 Adult 24.4 2.90 12.0 1.61 1.80 5.65 9.10 0.32 375 32.6 T17 Male 57.6/55.6 Adult 25.6 2.12 8.3 1.68 1.26 1.95 3.28 0.65 185 11.8 e T18 Female 49.3/46.3 Adult 24.2 1.23 5.1 1.59 0.77 0.75 1.19 1.03 117 4.3 715 T19 Female 49.9/46.8 Adult 24.5 1.60 6.5 1.61 0.99 1.36 2.19 0.73 164 7.9 T20 Male? 55.6/53.7 Adult 24.6 1.33 5.4 1.62 0.82 0.87 1.41 0.94 128 5.1 T21 Female 49.6/46.5 Adult 24.4 1.07 4.4 1.60 0.67 0.53 0.85 1.25 96 3.1 T22 Male 57.3/55.4 Adult 25.4 1.24 4.9 1.67 0.74 0.55 0.92 1.35 88 3.3 * Estimates based on studies by Abbie (1974; first value) and Burston (1913; second value). ** See Table 2 for formula used to calculate parameter. S. Webb / Journal of Human Evolution 52 (2007) 711e715 713 Aboriginal people during the early and middle twentieth cen- 1987; Robbins, 1985, 1987; Tuttle, 1987). These formulae use tury (1904; Burston, 1913; Wood Jones and Campbell, 1924; foot length, stride length, and stature data to produce gait pa- Campbell and Lewis, 1926; Campbell and Hackett, 1927; rameters such as relative stride (L0), relative speed (V0), veloc- Campbell et al., 1936; Howells, 1937; Abbie, 1961a,b, 1974; ity (V), stride time (T ), cadence (C ), and thus, actual speed Kettle, 1966; Brown and Barrett, 1971). These form a sample (Sp)(Charteris et al., 1981: 497, Table 1). These are presented of 1800 individuals from various traditional and rural back- in Table 2 and for consistency follow Charteris et al.’s grounds in north, central, and southern parts of Australia. notation. The studies provide data regarding individual foot length Trackways 1e5 clearly show speed increases from T1 and stature for adults and juveniles and in some cases for through T5, with T5 being the fastest (Table 1). Trackway 8 males and females. Therefore, careful application of their re- was made by the fastest-moving individual, who was on the sults may offer a better understanding of the morphological outer edge of the group (Fig. 1). The regular and parallel pat- profile of the people who made the footprints. tern suggests a contemporary event involving six men in a flanking movement. It is far less likely that they were Foot length made on six different occasions by six different men moving in the same direction, with each individual spacing their track Recent Aboriginal anthropometric data show a male range from the others and adjusting their speed to suit. Trackway 4 is of 195e300 mm, with an average of 250 mm, and a female that of a one-legged man moving at 21.7 km/hr, which seems range of 204e268 mm, with an average of 231 mm (Kettle, incredible but is discussed further below.

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