Laetoli

At Laetoli … hominid footprints are preserved in volcanic rock 3.6 million years old and represent some of the earliest signs of mankind in the world.

Before we learned to count,

how long did we live?

Before we named the days

and months and seasons,

how did we know that time

had passed, only that light

followed darkness, warmth

followed cold, new growth

followed death, and death followed living?

A child born became a man

and there was no measure for his life,

nothing to measure his time passing,

only change, then death,

a beginning and an ending filled,

knowing only that he had lived;

and what did he leave behind

in his ageless passing?

Just himself and his footsteps

trod upon the earth.

Laetoli Footprints