Government has set aside 200m/- for the partial reopening of the Laetoli footprints in the Ngorongoro National Park in Arusha starting next week, the Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism Ezekiel Maige said yesterday.
He said the re-excavation which will cover an area three metres is expected to start on Monday next week and end on February 14.
Maige said the footprints not only record the diversity of life in the Pliocene savannas of East Africa but more significantly, offers the unique evidence of bipedalism in hominids from 3.6 million years ago.
The reopening will put Tanzania on the international map because the seven days of work on the world-renowned archaeological site will be witnessed by professors and other researchers, said Maige.
Archaeologist Dr Mary Leakey and her team discovered the footprints in 1978 which are believed to be of a man who lived some 3.6 million years ago and walked on two legs.
Between 1992 and 1998 archaeologists from Tanzania working with experts from Getty Institute embarked on the delicate work of preserving the footprints, documentation and reburial of the track way.
According to the minister President Jakaya Kikwete will be the guest of honour at the event on Tuesday and that the reopening team will involve experts from the department of Antiquities in the ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) department of Geology and Archaeology, Members from the International Centre for the preservation and restoration of cultural property (ICCROM) and US-based Getty Conservation Institute.
Maige said the Laetoli site which is used to preserve hominid and faunal tracks as well as hominid animals and plant fossils has immense scientific value which can be used for understanding human evolution.
He also said the re-excavation is of great importance to the country as it will be used to evaluate the state of conservation of the buried footprint trail and for scientists to get various samples for scientific studies and analyses.
The minister also said that scientists will document and record preservation conditions of the present day and allow communities, government leaders, journalists and other stakeholders to see the footprints in their authentic form.
Maige said as a long term plan to preserve, monitor and maintain the site, his ministry did an evaluation of the part of the burial monitoring trench, designing and the installation of an exhibition at the Oldupai Museum.
He said his ministry did this considering the fact that the volcanic tuff is fragile and prone to weather rapidly on wetting and drying cycles.
The footprints demonstrate that the hominids walked upright habitually, as there are no knuckle-impressions. The feet do not have the mobile big toe of apes; instead, they have an arch (the bending of the sole of the foot) typical of modern humans. The hominids seem to have moved in a leisurely stroll.
Author: Joseph Mchekadona | Source: IPP Media [February 04, 2011]