Abstract:Human footprints provide some of the most publically emotive and tangible evidence of our ancestors. To the scientific community they provide evidence of stature, presence, behaviour and in the case of early hominins potential evidence with respect to the evolution of gait. While rare in the geological record the number of footprint sites has increased in recent years along with the analytical tools available for their study. Many of these sites are at risk from rapid erosion, including the Ileret footprints i… Show more
“…This holds true especially for footprints, which are often left in situ because an excavation is not desirable or realizable, and therefore are exposed to weathering (Bennett et al, 2013). When a specimen is removed from its stratigraphical and paleobiological context during excavation, the loss of important information is a likely risk, especially when excavations are insufficiently documented (i.e., emergency excavations).…”
Here we describe dinosaur tracks from the Langenberg Quarry near Goslar (Lower Saxony) that represent the first footprints from the Late Jurassic of Germany discovered outside the Wiehen Mountains. The footprints are preserved in Kimmeridgian marginal marine carbonates. They vary in length from 36 to 47 cm and were made by theropod dinosaurs. The original tracksite with 20 footprints was destroyed by quarrying soon after its discovery in 2003. Only the five best defined footprints were excavated. Based on scanned-in analog photographs which were taken during the excavation, a three-dimensional (3-D) model of the original tracksite was generated by applying historical photogrammetry. The resulting model is accurate enough to allow a detailed description of the original tracksite. Different preservation types result from changing substrate properties and include both well-defined footprints and deeply impressed footprints with elongated heel and variably defined digit impressions. The tracksite was discovered stratigraphically close to the bone accumulation of the dwarfed sauropod dinosaur Europasaurus holgeri and probably records a sea level fall along with a faunal interchange, which would likely have eliminated the resident dwarf island fauna. The two largest and best preserved footprints differ from most other Late Jurassic theropod footprints in their great width. Two different trackmaker species might have been present at the site. Several hypotheses presented in a recent paper on Late Jurassic dinosaur tracks from the Wiehen Mountains by Diedrich (2011b) are commented upon herein.
“…This holds true especially for footprints, which are often left in situ because an excavation is not desirable or realizable, and therefore are exposed to weathering (Bennett et al, 2013). When a specimen is removed from its stratigraphical and paleobiological context during excavation, the loss of important information is a likely risk, especially when excavations are insufficiently documented (i.e., emergency excavations).…”
Here we describe dinosaur tracks from the Langenberg Quarry near Goslar (Lower Saxony) that represent the first footprints from the Late Jurassic of Germany discovered outside the Wiehen Mountains. The footprints are preserved in Kimmeridgian marginal marine carbonates. They vary in length from 36 to 47 cm and were made by theropod dinosaurs. The original tracksite with 20 footprints was destroyed by quarrying soon after its discovery in 2003. Only the five best defined footprints were excavated. Based on scanned-in analog photographs which were taken during the excavation, a three-dimensional (3-D) model of the original tracksite was generated by applying historical photogrammetry. The resulting model is accurate enough to allow a detailed description of the original tracksite. Different preservation types result from changing substrate properties and include both well-defined footprints and deeply impressed footprints with elongated heel and variably defined digit impressions. The tracksite was discovered stratigraphically close to the bone accumulation of the dwarfed sauropod dinosaur Europasaurus holgeri and probably records a sea level fall along with a faunal interchange, which would likely have eliminated the resident dwarf island fauna. The two largest and best preserved footprints differ from most other Late Jurassic theropod footprints in their great width. Two different trackmaker species might have been present at the site. Several hypotheses presented in a recent paper on Late Jurassic dinosaur tracks from the Wiehen Mountains by Diedrich (2011b) are commented upon herein.
“…when single footprints are meaningful only in their spatial context) or impracticable (Bennett et al . ). Scientific access to specimens remaining in the field can be complicated given the remoteness of many sites and the degradation over time due to weathering.…”
The functional anatomy of the hindlimb of bipedal dinosaurs has been intensively studied. Yet, surprisingly little work has been done concerning functional adaptation of digits for terrestrial locomotion. While complete and articulated pes skeletons are scarce, pes shape is abundantly recorded by fossil footprints. We elucidate the significance of footprint shape and size for locomotion using a large sample (n = 303) of tridactyl dinosaur footprints from a broad range of geographical localities and time slots. Size and shape variation are characterized separately for theropods and ornithischians, the two principal trackmaker taxa. At smaller sizes, theropod footprints are best discriminated from ornithischian footprints by their smaller interdigital angle and larger projection of digit III; at larger sizes digital widths are effective discriminants. Ornithischian footprints increase in size from the Early Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous, a trend not observed in theropod footprints. Size and function are argued to be important determinants of footprint shape, and an attempt made to infer function from shape. Digit III projection and length‐to‐width ratio of the footprints are negatively correlated with size in both groups; digit impression width is positively correlated with size only in ornithischians. Digit III projection appears to be positively correlated with cursorial ability. Increased interdigital angles are associated with a decrease in digital width, possibly an adaptation for stability. Weak digit III projection and increased digital width are interpreted as adaptations for graviportality. Footprints yield great potential for the understanding of the functional morphology of dinosaur feet.
“…The scale bar enabled scaling of the 3D models. Close-range digital photogrammetry applied to hominid and human tracks showed comparable results to optical laser scanning (Vi900 KonicaMinolta) (Bennett, Falkingham, Morse, Bates & Crompton, 2013). Accuracy tests on the Vi900 Konica-Minolta yielded an accuracy of 0.19 mm on x-plane, 0.14 mm on y-plane and 0.10 mm on z-plane (Keating, Knox, Bibb & Zhurov, 2008).…”
Estimating the distribution and status of animal populations is crucial in various fields of biology. Monitoring species via their tracks is controversial due to unreliable recording techniques, manipulator bias and substrate variation. Furthermore, subjective identification of the foot that produces each track can lead to significant errors, for example, when assigning tracks made by different feet from the same individual to different individuals. The aim of this research was to develop an accurate, consistent and objective algorithm to identify the anteroposterior (hind/front) and mediolateral (right/left) position from digital threedimensional (3D) models of African lion (Panthera leo) paws and tracks using geometric morphometrics. We manually positioned 12 fixed landmarks on 132 paws and 182 tracks recorded in 3D using digital close-range photogrammetry. We used geometric morphometrics to evaluate and visualize the shape variation between paws and between tracks along the anteroposterior and mediolateral axes, and between paws and tracks. The identification algorithm using linear discriminant analysis with jack-knifed predictions reached a maximum accuracy of 95.45% and 91.21% for paws and tracks, respectively. We recommend the use of this objective position identification algorithm in future studies where tracks are compared between individual African lions.
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