About the age and depositional depth of the sediments with reported bipedal footprints at Trachilos (NW Crete, Greece)

Abstract

New data on the foraminifers and the regional geological setting of the Trachilos sediments (NW Crete, Greece) from which Gierlinski et al. (Proc Geol Assoc 128: 697–710, 2017) described hominin-like footprints show that the published 6.05 Ma-shallow marine interpretation is incorrect. In our new interpretation, the Trachilos succession is Late Pliocene and part of a shallowing marine series that became subaerially exposed some 3 millions of years ago. Placed in a larger geological context, Crete was an island during the Late Pliocene and separated by ~ 100 km of open sea from the nearest European mainland, and therefore out of reach of Late Pliocene hominins.