Arusha — Tanzania will soon start the process of uncovering the earliest human footprints on earth currently below ground and covered by thick protective layers of minerals, soil and debris in Ngorongoro.

Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, Ezekiel Maige stated in Arusha last week that the government has first to satisfy itself that once exposed the historical hominid prints will remain protected because the reason why they had to be covered in the first place was to shield them from environmental hazards.

"In about a year or two we will remove the protective layers and reveal the hominid foot prints, starting with a few then proceed gradually to expose them all. However, experts want a special sheltering structure built around them otherwise they will disappear once uncovered," he said.

The minister stated this at an interview shortly after opening the occasion to mark 50 years of Zinjanthropus the oldest human ancestor whose fossil bones and skull were discovered at Olduvai Gorge in Ngorongoro District of Arusha in 1959 by Dr. Louis and Mary Leakey.

Also discovered by Dr. Mary Leakey in 1978, the 23-metre-long tracks of hominid footprints are sited in 14 locations at the Laetoli site also in Ngorongoro but in 1995 they got covered with an elaborate protective layer following claims that they had "started to deteriorate with continued exposure."

Said to be over four million-years-old, the tracks remained hidden and out of sight since then amid mixed reactions from conservators and international organizations worldwide.

Mr. Donatius Kamamba, who is head of the National Museum in Dar-es-Salaam and also director of the Tanzanian Department of Antiquities - the agency responsible for the Laetoli footprint site - explained here that once exposed the historical human signature prints have to be protected inside a special shelter.

That will be some kind of 'green house' whose temperature, humidity and moisture have to be scientifically controlled which means the structure has to be installed with electricity to power the system required to perform the task.

"We have hired an expert who advises us on the correct roadmap in uncovering the sites," said Mr Maige adding that his ministry would start with two sites at first on trial basis before the other 12 prints could be fully exposed.

Apparently Experts have been expressing fear for the oldest fossilized mankind tracks and how they were being treated. Apparently weathering had started to take toll on the landmarks but then, even under the protective layers, according to others,the prints preserved in a volcanic ash bed were still susceptible to erosion, livestock trampling and human activities taking place on top.

The protective layer now in place was constructed by specialists from the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles. A layer of dirt had been placed over the footprints by researchers such as Leakey and White.

But acacia seeds weren't sifted out of the soil, so trees started growing, threatening to tear apart the layer of hardened volcanic ash.

Getty conservationists Neville Agnew and Martha Demas removed the old layer and growth, covered the prints with a special fabric mat designed to limit water intrusion, then covered this with soil and rocks in 1995.

This worked well until the past couple of years, when increased rains filled the surrounding run-off ditches with silt, leading to erosion exposing the mat's edges. All agree that the mat needs to be covered swiftly, in case, for example, local tribe's people attempt to remove it for other uses.

Charles Musiba, who is an anthropologist at the University of Colorado in Denver, is reported to have earlier on suggested a special museum to be erected around the site to both protect the hominid prints and act as historical display center for the historical site.