The Ileret foot prints are far younger than the better-known Laetoli Australopithecine prints, which date to 3.5-3.6 million years ago. Compared to the Laetoli footprints, Ileret's footprints are much closer to modern human feet both in size and in apparent function.
The Ileret toe is aligned more closely with the rest of the foot—Laetoli's feet had a completely splayed out big toe—and the Ileret foot shows clear evidence of a high arch, a modern human detail. Ileret's footprint makers had relatively narrower in-steps, compared to Laetoli, again closer to modern human prints. Finally, the length and width of most of the Ileret prints are in the range of modern human footprints, whereas Laetoli's are much smaller.
More on Ancient Feet and Shoes
Bennett, Matthew R., et al. 2009 Early Hominin Foot Morphology Based on 1.5-Million-Year-Old Footprints from Ileret, Kenya. Science 323:1197-1201.
