--- title: Human Ancestors: 3.6 Million-Year-Old Footprints Give Hints description: New footprints of five human ancestors that roamed the Earth millions of years ago suggest that our ancestors may have kept multiple mates canonical: https://time.com/4603682/footprints-skeleton-evolution-humans/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-15T17:47:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:19:36.468Z article:section: Science og:title: What These 3.66 Million-Year-Old Footprints Tell Us About Our Human Ancestors og:description: New footprints of five human ancestors that roamed the Earth millions of years ago suggest that our ancestors may have kept multiple mates og:url: https://time.com/4603682/footprints-skeleton-evolution-humans/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13e7ea4bed41ed4b/6988b31d97cdff24fd6aee7d/3-66-million-year-old-footprints2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 3-66-million-year-old-footprints2 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What These 3.66 Million-Year-Old Footprints Tell Us About Our Human Ancestors twitter:description: New footprints of five human ancestors that roamed the Earth millions of years ago suggest that our ancestors may have kept multiple mates twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13e7ea4bed41ed4b/6988b31d97cdff24fd6aee7d/3-66-million-year-old-footprints2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What These 3.66 Million-Year-Old Footprints Tell Us About Our Human Ancestors  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Dec 15, 2016 5:47 PM UTC  eLife  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Dec 15, 2016 5:47 PM UTC Newly discovered footprints of five [human ancestors](http://time.com/4029956/homo-naledi-human-discovery/) that roamed the Earth 3.66 million years ago suggest that members of the _Australopithecus afarensis_ species may have kept multiple mates at the same time, according to new [research](https://elifesciences.org/content/5/e19568). The new footprints, published in the journal _e-Life,_ were discovered in Tanzania accidentally while a site was being considered for a proposed museum. The footprints were made in a layer of ash and preserved like clay. Scientists evaluated the footprints and found that the group likely included one adult male, three adult females and a child, the latest evidence that the species was polygamous. The newly discovered footprints are about the same age as the famous [Lucy skeleton](http://time.com/vault/issue/1977-11-07/page/1/), also a member of the _Australopithecus_ _afarensis_ species_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4603682/footprints-skeleton-evolution-humans/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4603682/footprints-skeleton-evolution-humans/"},"headline":"What These 3.66 Million-Year-Old Footprints Tell Us About Our Human Ancestors","datePublished":"2016-12-15T17:47:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:19:36.468Z","description":"The footprints are about the same age as the famous Lucy skeleton","url":"https://time.com/4603682/footprints-skeleton-evolution-humans/","keywords":["Evolution","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13e7ea4bed41ed4b/6988b31d97cdff24fd6aee7d/3-66-million-year-old-footprints2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt13e7ea4bed41ed4b/6988b31d97cdff24fd6aee7d/3-66-million-year-old-footprints2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"3-66-million-year-old-footprints2","caption":"","creditText":"eLife","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/evolution/","name":"Evolution"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4603682/footprints-skeleton-evolution-humans/","name":"What These 3.66 Million-Year-Old Footprints Tell Us About Our Human Ancestors"}}]}] ```