Intersecting paths of muddy footprints left on a Kenyan lakeside 1.5 million years ago suggest two of our early human ancestors were nearby neighbours.

Human footprints stir the imagination. They invite you to follow, to guess what someone was doing and where they were going. Fossilized footprints preserved in rock do the same—they record instances in the lives of many different extinct organisms,

Two species of ancient human relatives crossed paths 1.5 million years ago. Fossilized footprints in Kenya captured the moment, according to a new study.

The research included professors Kevin Hatala from Chatham U. in Pittsburgh and Craig Feibel of Rutgers and showed two human species might have competed or cooperated.

As Homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei – a direct ancestor and an ancestral relative of modern humans, respectively – lived their lives in the Turkana Basin, they left their footprints, impressed deep in the mud around the lake, probably with barely a thought.

A 1.5-million-year-old lakebed from Kenya shows two ancient human relatives cohabitating an environment, shaking up our ancestors' story.

Muddy footprints left on a Kenyan lakeside suggest two of our early human ancestors were neighbors some 1.5 million years ago.

Muddy footprints found beside Lake Turkana, Kenya reveal two ancient hominin species were once neighbors 1.5 million years ago.

About 1.5 million years ago, individuals of two different species in the human evolutionary lineage trudged on a muddy lakeshore in northern Kenya, leaving behind intersecting trackways alongside the footprints of antelopes,

Newly discovered 1.5-million-year-old footprints reveal how two extinct human species crossed paths within hours of each other.