Letter: In Brief

Sir: Is it really possible for scientists to ascertain the sex of a child from a footprint? Your report "Europe's oldest footprints unearthed" (11 June) assumes the footprints found in a French cave are those of a boy. No doubt Cro-Magnon girls were too busy keeping the cave clean to explore, or perhaps, as my daughter suggested, the words "Gareth woz 'ere" were found scrawled on a nearby wall.

PAMELA McKEON

Cheadle, Cheshire