THE oldest known footprints made by modern humans will be moved to a museum
after all.
The prints, thought to have been made by a woman and possibly a child 117 000
years ago, were discovered in 1995 in sandstone on the shore of Langebaan Lagoon
in South Africa鈥檚 West Coast National Park. Last month, the South African
National Parks Board decided to leave the prints in place, despite warnings from
the scientist who discovered them that they were rapidly eroding
(This Week, 31 January, p 20).
Now the board has changed its mind after visitors to the site
started to damage them.
鈥淲e began worrying when we saw a news photograph of someone standing in the
prints,鈥� says Janette Deacon of the South African National Monuments Council.
鈥淲e had very much wanted to leave them in place, because their meaning is
destroyed if they are moved.鈥� Museums also have trouble storing and displaying
such unwieldy blocks of stone, adds Deacon. 鈥淏ut the twin horrors of human
interest and natural erosion will be the kiss of death for them.鈥�
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Keith Taylor, a stone conservator with Taylor Pearce Restoration in London,
who is one of the advisers on the project, warns that the sandstone 鈥渋s very
fragile, and could be very delicate to move. But it should be possible.鈥� The
prints will be impregnated with a hardening material and the block cut out with
a high-pressure water jet. The prints will be replaced with a cast 鈥渢hat looks
as much like the original as possible鈥�, says Deacon.