S. Africa to Move Prehistoric Footprints

A pair of ancient footprints, the oldest ever found of an anatomically modern human, will be removed from a national park and placed in a museum, South African officials said Tuesday.

The celebrated footprints, believed to be 117,000 years old, have been so popular with curious tourists that scientists petitioned to have them taken away before they are destroyed.

Officials with the South African National Parks said they were reluctant to remove the prehistoric impressions from their natural setting on the shores of the picturesque Langebaan Lagoon, about 70 miles northwest of Cape Town. But because of the human threat, and a longer-term problem of coastal erosion, officials believed there was no alternative, said Johan Verhoef, cultural resources manager for the parks agency.

Parks officials said the prints will be removed, however, only after geologists and other experts have devised a foolproof method of extraction and transport to the South African Museum in Cape Town.