Neanderthals climbed volcano after it erupted

[Still Waters]

According to legend, the devil once took a walk down the side of a volcano in southern Italy, each step preserved forever in solid rock.

The tracks are known as the "Ciampate del Diavolo"' or "Devil's Trail" - but new details reveal a less diabolical yet far more interesting story on how they came to be.

The mysterious footprints are well known to those living near Roccamonfina, an extinct volcano in southern Italy that hasn't erupted in tens of thousands of years.

Since 2001, researchers have sought an explanation for the dozens of impressions left by a small group of human ancestors and even a few animals snaking their way down the mountainside.

Now a new paper suggests some individuals were actually heading back up.

https://www.sciencealert.com/hundreds-of-thousands-of-years-ago-neanderthals-left-their-footprints-on-an-active-volcano

[XenoFish]

Humans be curious creatures.

[Nnicolette]

Obsidian.

[MissJatti]

Certain Death

[Robotic Jew]

It was me...sorry guys.

[Seti42]

3 hours ago, Nnicolette said:

Obsidian.

Good hypothesis. Obsidian would have been a real treasure in the stone age. Fun fact: It's still used for some surgical blades. 

[Ozfactor]

If they were after obsidian, couldn't they have waited for the lava to cool before walking on it ?

[jbondo]

8 hours ago, Ozfactor said:

If they were after obsidian, couldn't they have waited for the lava to cool before walking on it ?

Cue the Unknown Comic doing his impression of the first man on the sun.

[+DieChecker]

Tony... it was Tony.

I could imagine them going up there to get something... Fire maybe. Or perhaps for religious reasons. Many speculate Nesnderthals originated the idea of religion.

[Jujo-jo]

On 1/30/2020 at 7:57 PM, DieChecker said:

Tony... it was Tony.

I could imagine them going up there to get something... Fire maybe. Or perhaps for religious reasons. Many speculate Nesnderthals originated the idea of religion.

My answer is suicide.

They wouldn't have walked up there to get fire or lava, for one they wouldn't be able to get close enough to handle either one without being burnt and even if they did they wouldn't have the means to carry it back down without it disintegrating whatever they put either one in. 

Even if they wanted to look over the edge out of curiosity they would have fried or got burnt, my guess is death only other options would be to attempt a rescue of someone or something.

We can't even walk on hot payment that the sun has heated without burning the bottoms of our feet, so there shoes must have been made out of some pretty tough material.

[jethrofloyd]

As far as I know all the tracks lead in the same direction......AWAY FROM THE VOLCANO'S CRATER. Not up towards the crater.The occasional handprints was found alongside the tracks on the cliff face of the volcano. This suggests that the tracks were made by neanderthals who needed to steady themselves as they made the perilous descent down the steep slope. For some reason they were up there at the top of the mountain when the eruption happened. They were descending the volcano to escape the eruption.