Human footprints found in Britain are oldest ever seen outside of Africa

Standard Toaster

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/news/the-millionyearold-family-human-footprints-found-in-britain-are-oldest-ever-seen-outside-of-africa-9114151.html

Extraordinary new evidence of Britain's first human inhabitants has been discovered in Norfolk. Around 50 footprints, made by members by an early species of prehistoric humans almost a million years ago, have been revealed by coastal erosion near the village of Happisburgh, in Norfolk, 17 miles north-east of Norwich.

The discovery - made by a team of experts from the British Museum, the Natural History Museum and Queen Mary University of London - is one of the most important archaeological discoveries ever made in Britain and is of great international significance, as the footprints are the first of such great age ever found outside Africa. Indeed even there, only a few other examples have ever come to light – all in Kenya and Tanzania.
In Britain, the oldest footprint discoveries prior to the Norfolk finds, had dated from just 7,500 years ago, a tiny fraction of the age of the newly revealed examples.


Continued...

Such a pity only one example survives. Such a rare find all the same.

Wibbs

Wow. :eek: That's impressive.

tac foley

@Standard Toaster - not survived, all long gone now, hence the haste to record them at the time...........................Just been on the news here in flooded UK.

tac

Standard Toaster

tac foley wrote: »

@Standard Toaster - not survived, all long gone now, hence the haste to record them at the time...........................Just been on the news here in flooded UK.

tac

I was just going buy what the article said:

Tragically, although a full photogrammetric and photographic record has been made, all but one of the prints were rapidly destroyed by incoming tides before they could be physically lifted.

I guess we can just be thankful they were discovered & photographed at least. God knows what else lays out there ready to be uncovered!

Maudi

Standard Toaster wrote: »

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/news/the-millionyearold-family-human-footprints-found-in-britain-are-oldest-ever-seen-outside-of-africa-9114151.html








Such a pity only one example survives. Such a rare find all the same.

Hold on.anybody else confused? Twice different articles say human footprints..then one says an early "species"of human..so which is it? Homo sapiens? Neandertal? Or as it says an earlier species.

dubhthach

Given the age it's probably either Homo erectus or Homo antecessor, DNA evidence is pointing at divergence between our own lineage (Homo Sapiens) and Homo neanderthalensis probably on order of 500k years ago, with potential common ancestor in form of Homo heidelbergensis.

tac foley

Just family out for a day at the seaside....pretty moving thought for a simple soul like me.

tac