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[Still Waters]

Fossil footprints could provide a skewed view of how ancient animals — including early human ancestors similar to the famous Lucy fossil — walked, new research suggests.

In the past, paleontologists and anthropologists assumed the depth of the footprint correlated with the pressure used to create it. But the analysis, published today (March 19) in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, reveals that the heel tends to create a deeper indentation even when applying the same amount of pressure.

http://www.livescien...misleading.html

[Taun]

It seems odd that people have been studying footprints for millenia (trackers, hunters, etc) and they are just now coming to the conclusion that heels make deeper marks? (unless I misread the article)...

[Everdred]

Taun, on 21 March 2013 - 04:32 PM, said:

It seems odd that people have been studying footprints for millenia (trackers, hunters, etc) and they are just now coming to the conclusion that heels make deeper marks? (unless I misread the article)...

I think this is about the reason for the heel making a deeper mark.  I suppose the usual thought process is that it receives more pressure, which translates to a deeper mark.  But this team is saying that the morphology of the heel also plays a role in making the deeper mark.