GFZ German research centre for geo sciences

New age dating solves the enigma of the age of a human footprint

Whilst constructing a dam in 1969, workers discovered human footprints on the Kula volcanic field in Western Turkey. A volcanic eruption thousands of years ago had covered the ground with an ash layer that conserved the human trace. For a long time the age of the footprints was enigmatic. A new age dating now allows for a precise age estimation.

18.05.2016: Whilst constructing a dam in 1969, workers discovered human footprints on the Kula volcanic field in Western Turkey. A volcanic eruption thousands of years ago had covered the ground with an ash layer that conserved the human trace. For a long time the age of the footprints was enigmatic. A new age dating now allows for a precise age estimation.

Previous estimates had assumed an age between 250,000 and 25,000 years before present. Applying a still very novel dating method via cosmogenic nuclides (isotopes formed under the influence of high-energetic cosmic rays) now reveals that the human who left the footprints went across the volcanic field only about 11,000 years ago – significantly later than previously thought. The exact knowledge of the age of the footprint enables archeologists to reconstruct the history of human settlement in the region. Geologist, on the other hand, can use the age information to decipher the recent eruption history of large volcanoes and volcanic provinces and can reconstruct the geologic development of the landscape.

The analysis of cosmogenic nuclides in the form of helium and beryllium isotopes from volcanic rocks allows for an estimation of the time when the rocks were exposed at the Earth's surface for the first time. This age is identical with the time of the deposition of the ash layer and therewith it is possible to infer the age of the footprint conserved by the ash layer. This method of combining helium and beryllium isotopes for an age determination of volcanic rock was applied for the first time on a volcanic field of a late Quaternary age. The study was published in Quaternary Geochronology. Cosmogenic nuclides are particularly suitable for the age determination of such a young material.

Scientists from the WWU Münster, Germany, and the GFZ carried out the age dating together, with the analytical procedure of the determination of the helium being performed in the Noble Gas Laboratory at the GFZ, headed by Dr. Samuel Niedermann from the GFZ section Inorganic and Isotope Geochemistry, co-author of the study. (ak)

Heineke, C., Niedermann, S., Hetzel, R., Akal, C., 2016. Surface exposure dating of Holocene basalt flows and cinder cones in the Kula volcanic field (Western Turkey) using cosmogenic 3He and 10Be. Quaternary Geochronology (published online). doi:10.1016/j.quageo.2016.04.004

Additional News

back to top of main content