Oldest ever Homo sapiens footprint is found, pushing the record back by 30,000 years

The oldest known footprint of our species, lightly ringed with chalk. It appears long and narrow because the trackmaker dragged their heel. Credit: Charles Helm

Just over two decades ago, as the new millennium began, it seemed that tracks left by our ancient human ancestors dating back more than about 50,000 years were excessively rare.

Only four sites had been reported in the whole of Africa at…