Namibian trackers use ancient skills to solve an old puzzle in a cave in the French PyreneesFor a long time the stomp of dancing feet was believed to have been the origin of the 17,000-year-old prints scattered across a cave floor in France.Archaeologists suspected from the number of jumbled prints that a ritual dance had taken place. But when three San saw the prints they quickly realised that this was no dance."We learnt that the people in these caves were acting more normal than we thought," said Tilman Lenssen-Erz, of the University of Cologne in Germany.The tracks, the San believed, were left by one person, a 14- year-old girl who had pressed her feet deep into the clay as part of a game. There is a lot of detail in rock art that those of us who don't hunt, don't see                                                 Tsamkxao Ciqae, C/wi/Kunta and C/wiG/aqo de!u may have been a long way from their homes in northeastern Namibia, but using skills they gained from hunting, they were able to provide a peek into who was hanging out in caves at the height of the last Ice Age.The three trackers are part of a new breed of researchers who use skill sets traditional academics don't have.In 2013, they visited three caves in the French Pyrenees, invited by Lenssen-Erz and fellow archaeologist Andreas Pastoors. The two researchers felt they could better understand what prehistoric humans were doing there by using trackers.What the trackers found amazed the archaeologists. They identified 28 individual tracks and the sex and age of the people who made them. The eldest was a 60-year-old man, the youngest just three.But some of the spoor they found hard to interpret. In the Tuc d'Audoubert cave the three found prints - of a man around 38 years old, and a boy of 15 - who had walked on their heels. They couldn't work out why, and when they returned to their village they asked their elders."They knew of a man who walked like this who lived in Botswana," said Ciqae. "There was something wrong with him."Another suggestion was that the man and boy didn't want to show their toes, as the toes identify a person to spoor readers.After the success of the trip to France, Pastoors and Lenssen-Erz plan to use more indigenous skills and knowledge."A second plan is an international conference on prehistoric tracks worldwide ... not only the three San trackers but Inuit trackers from Canada, Aboriginal trackers from Australia and Batak trackers from Malaysia."Lenssen-Erz also believes the San could provide insight when interpreting the rock art scattered across southern Africa."There is a lot of detail in rock art that those of us who don't hunt, don't see." He said the San would often see in the painted images a narrative of what the animal has done and what it is about to do. This would help in understanding the purpose of the art.Tour guide Ciqae lives in the Namibian town of Tsumkwe. Tracking in caves he found to be a totally different experience."It was very cold, and we had to use torches," he said. There was also the challenge of working in confined spaces, and the effect on the prints of millennia of dripping water.But tracking humans, prehistoric or modern, is the same, he said. From the arch of the foot, imprinted in the sand, he can tell the gender. The toes, he said, are unique and identify who the person is."Before cellphones, and you arrived home, and if your wife wasn't there, you would look for her tracks. Then you would realise she has gone to collect wood, or she is with her friends," Ciqae said.The plan is for the San to head back to France soon.smillies@timesmedia.co.za..