29.12.2010
Rathgen-Forschungslabor
In the frame of the national project to re-excavate the Laetoli footprint site in Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a World Heritage Site in Arusha, Tanzania, the Director of the Rathgen Research Laboratory, Stefan Simon, has been elected to the Steering Committee which is expected to advise how to best re-excavate and display the famous hominid footprints and ensure its conservation in situ.
The line of hominid fossil footprints, discovered in 1978, is preserved in powdery volcanic ash wish was cemented by soft rain to a fragile tuff. The footprint-bearing layers are Pliocene in age, dated by the K/Ar method to 3.5-3.7 million years ago.
Stefan Simon was elected to the Committee by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism of the United Republic of Tanzania. The re-excavation of the hominid footprints is scheduled to start in February 2011.