Walking Like a Modern Human

Well-documented fossilized 3.8 million-year-old footprints show that our early ancestors walked with a decidedly ape-like primitive gait, with bent knees, short steps, and a predominant point of impact on the heels. It may have taken several million more years of evolution before changes in our ancestors’ physical structure allowed them to walk with the long stride of modern humans. Recent analysis of 1.5 million-year-old footprints in Kenya indicates that the footprint-makers (most likely Homo erectus) had a long stride and the ability to push off with the big toe, as we do. The footprints also show that by 1.5 million years ago, foot anatomy was very much like ours.