Ancient sketches of handprints left behind at the Wadi Sura II natural rock shelter in the Libyan desert did not belong to human infants, other small primates, or even aliens, according to a newly published study by a team of French and UK archaeologists and paleoanthropologists.
As Emmanuelle Honoré of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research and the French National Centre for Scientific Research and her colleagues reported in the April 2016 edition of the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, a morphometric analysis of the size, proportions and morphology of the prints suggest they were made from the forefeet of reptiles.
Discovered in 2002, Wadi Sura II was found to contain thousands of sketches and prints, but it was the tiny, child-like “handprints” found in the prehistoric site which most fascinated experts, according to Archaeology and news.com.au. At least 13 prints believed to have been left behind between 6,000 and 8,000 years ago were found at the location, which is also known as the Cave of the Beasts, and until now it was believed that they were created by human babies.
In the new study, however, Honoré, Professor Brigitte Senut from the French National Museum of Natural History in Paris, and a team of primatologists, paleoanthropologists and other experts analyzed the proportions of the prints and found that they more closely matched the proportions of the forelimbs of a monitor lizard or very small crocodile.
Results not ‘definitive,’ but authors call them ‘very convincing’
As Honoré explained to news.com.au, she first saw the tiny “handprints” during a 2006 visit to the Wadi Sura II site, and noticed that they appeared to be smaller in size and with longer fingers than babies typically have. At that point, she started to wonder if they were actually human, or if they had a different origin than most researchers had come to believe.
Upon returning to the site a few years later, she decided to test her hypothesis. To start with, she measured the hands of her children and other babies in her family, and discovered that they were far smaller than those of her relatives. She then recruited a team of experts for further analysis on the markings, and found that they were not a 100 percent match for non-human primates either.
“After many discussions with my colleagues… we decided to investigate the reptile hypothesis,” Honoré told news.com.au. She then consulted with zoo officials and reptile experts, which led to the conclusion that they were likely made by lizards. While she said that their findings were not “definitive,” she added that the early results of their research were “very convincing.”
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Image credit: Emmanuelle Honoré
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