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Untold Italy · Friday, September 4, 2026

Ancient Human Footprints Discovered in Italian Volcanic Rock

The Rocca Monfina volcano in Italy preserves a unique fossil site containing human footprints dating back 300,000 years, an incredible find given that volcanoes often destroy such evidence. These prints, found in lava rock, were once considered the oldest in the world.

personEd Cutler

The tape

3 quotes
And then it preserves this incredible fossil site, which is unique, really.
Ed Cutler
But this one, it records these tracks made by ancient humans, 300,000 year old footprints preserved in this lava rock.
Ed Cutler
It really is footprints, like boot prints in fresh snow. They were the oldest footprints in the world until some ones in South Africa were discovered a few years ago.
Ed Cutler
Heard on Untold Italy — “340. This Beautiful Country - Exploring Italy's Natural Beauty, published Friday, September 4, 2026. Heardvine summarizes and quotes with attribution and timestamps, and links to the original everywhere.
Transcribed via publisher transcript · $0.00
Ancient Human Footprints Discovered in Italian Volcanic Rock — Heardvine