Possible hominin footprints from the late Miocene (c. 5.7 Ma) of Crete?
Possible hominin footprints from the late Miocene (c. 5.7 Ma) of Crete?
复制标题
DOI：
10.1016/j.pgeola.2017.07.006
复制
发表时间：
2017-10-01
影响因子：
1.2
通讯作者：
Ahlberg, Per Erik
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Gierlinski, Gerard D.;Niedzwiedzki, Grzegorz;Ahlberg, Per Erik
我们描述了在希腊克里特岛西部的Trachilos地区发现的晚中新世四足动物足迹（足迹），这些足迹显示出类似人类的特征。它们出现在迈锡尼亚时代（中新世晚期）的边缘海洋演替中的一个新兴的地平线上，可追溯到大约570 Ma（百万年），就在迈锡尼亚盐度危机之前。这些脚印表明，脚印制造者没有爪子，是两足动物，植足动物，五足动物和强烈的轴突动物。大而不发散的第一指（拇）印模颈部狭窄，远端掌部呈球根状不对称。侧指印痕逐渐变小，因此整个数字区域强烈不对称。一个大而圆的球印与拇趾有关。形态计量学分析显示，这些脚印的轮廓与现代非古人类灵长类动物不同，而与古人类的足迹相似。对这些脚印的解释可能存在争议。从脚印形态上看，脚印制作者是Glade人猿的基础成员，但由于克里特岛距离已知的前更新世人猿的地理范围有一段距离，我们也必须考虑到这样一种可能性，即它们代表了一种迄今为止未知的晚中新世灵长类动物，它逐渐进化出了类似人类的足部解剖结构。(C) 2017地质学家协会。Elsevier Ltd.出版。
We describe late Miocene tetrapod footprints (tracks) from the Trachilos locality in western Crete (Greece), which show hominin-like characteristics. They occur in an emergent horizon within an otherwise marginal marine succession of Messinian age (latest Miocene), dated to approximately 5.7 Ma (million years), just prior to the Messinian Salinity Crisis. The tracks indicate that the trackmaker lacked claws, and was bipedal, plantigrade, pentadactyl and strongly entaxonic. The impression of the large and non-divergent first digit (hallux) has a narrow neck and bulbous asymmetrical distal pad. The lateral digit impressions become progressively smaller so that the digital region as a whole is strongly asymmetrical. A large, rounded ball impression is associated with the hallux. Morphometric analysis shows the footprints to have outlines that are distinct from modern non-hominin primates and resemble those of hominins. The interpretation of these footprints is potentially controversial. The print morphology suggests that the trackmaker was a basal member of the Glade Hominini, but as Crete is some distance outside the known geographical range of pre-Pleistocene hominins we must also entertain the possibility that they represent a hitherto unknown late Miocene primate that convergently evolved human-like foot anatomy. (C) 2017 The Geologists' Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd.