This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/6956902.stm
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Egypt footprint 'could be oldest' | Egypt footprint 'could be oldest' |
| (about 11 hours later) | |
| Archaeologists in Egypt say they have discovered what might be the oldest human footprint ever found. | Archaeologists in Egypt say they have discovered what might be the oldest human footprint ever found. |
| The outline was found imprinted in mud, which has since turned to stone, at Siwa oasis in the western desert. | The outline was found imprinted in mud, which has since turned to stone, at Siwa oasis in the western desert. |
| "This could go back about two million years," antiquities council chief Zahi Hawass was quoted by Reuters as saying. | |
| However Khaled Saad, director of pre-history at the council, said it could be older still, and pre-date Ethiopia's 3m-year-old skeleton, Lucy. | |
| Lucy, discovered in 1974 in Hadar, Ethiopia, is an extinct Australopithecus afarensis hominid estimated to be 3.2 million years old. | Lucy, discovered in 1974 in Hadar, Ethiopia, is an extinct Australopithecus afarensis hominid estimated to be 3.2 million years old. |
| "It could be the most important discovery in Egypt," Mr Hawass said. | "It could be the most important discovery in Egypt," Mr Hawass said. |
| Until now the earliest evidence of human activity found in Egypt, most famous for the era of the pharaohs, dates from about 200,000 years ago. | Until now the earliest evidence of human activity found in Egypt, most famous for the era of the pharaohs, dates from about 200,000 years ago. |