Happisburgh footprints

Map showing the location of Happisburgh during the Early Pleistocene, approximately 800,000 years ago

The Happisburgh footprints were a set of fossilized hominin footprints dating to the early Pleistocene, discovered in May 2013 in a newly uncovered sediment layer on a beach at Happisburgh (/ˈheɪz.bɜːrə/ HAYZ-bur-ə) in Norfolk, England, and destroyed by the tide shortly afterwards. The results of research on the footprints were publicly announced on 7 February 2014, identifying them as dating to more than 800,000 years ago, making them the oldest known human footprints outside of Africa. Prior to the discovery at Happisburgh, the oldest known footprints in Britain were at Uskmouth in South Wales, from the Mesolithic and carbon-dated to 4,600 BCE.

Discovery

Plan of the Happisburgh site, showing exposed and recorded foreshore sediments, and location of the footprint surface

The footprints were discovered in May 2013 by Nicholas Ashton, curator at the British Museum, and Martin Bates from Trinity St David's University, who were doing research on the beach as part of a project studying the palaeolithic history of Happisburgh that had been established by the British Museum. The footprints were found in sediment, partially covered by beach sand, at low tide on the foreshore at Happisburgh. The layer of sediment underlies the cliff on the beach, and had originally been covered by beach sand, but following stormy weather the sand had been washed away and the sediment exposed. However, due to the softness of the sediment, which lay below the high tide mark, tidal action quickly eroded the exposed sediment, and within two weeks the footprints had all been destroyed.

Although the team were unable to preserve the footprints, they worked during periods of low tide, often in pouring rain, to record 3D images of all the footprints using photogrammetry. The images were analysed by Isabelle De Groote of Liverpool John Moores University, and she was able to confirm that the hollows in the sediment were indeed hominin footprints.

The facts concerning the discovery were not made public until a paper by Ashton and other members of the research team was published in February 2014 by the science journal PLOS ONE.

Pleistocene geography

At the time the Happisburgh hominins lived, a land bridge still existed between Britain and France prior to the formation of the English Channel about 450,000 years ago. The River Thames flowed further north than it does today before converging with the Bytham River. The landscape of a large part of modern-day Norfolk and Suffolk consisted of a series of clay ridges and troughs known as the East Anglian Crag Basin.

Description

Photographs of Area A at Happisburgh, showing: (a) view of footprint surface looking north; and (b) view of footprint surface looking south, also showing underlying horizontally bedded laminated silts

Approximately fifty footprints were found in an area measuring nearly 40 square metres (430 sq ft). As many as twelve were largely complete and two showed details of toes. The footprints of approximately five individuals have been identified, including adults and children. The footprints measured between 140 and 260 millimetres (5.5 and 10.2 in), which are thought to equate to heights between 0.9 and 1.7 metres (2 ft 11 in and 5 ft 7 in). It is thought that the individuals who made the footprints were from the species Homo antecessor.

Analysis shows that the group of perhaps five individuals was walking together in a southerly direction (going upstream) along mudflats in the estuary of an early path of the River Thames, which flowed into the sea farther north than it does today (south-east Britain was still joined to the European continent at that time). Archaeologists have speculated that the group was searching the mudflats for seafood such as lugworms, shellfish, crabs, and seaweed. It also is possible that the group might have lived on an island in the estuary, which would have provided safety from predators, and that they were travelling from their island base to the shore at low tide.

Dating

The Happisburgh site is too old to be dated using radiocarbon dating, as this method is not suitable for sites older than approximately 50,000 years. Instead, the dating of the site has been based upon stratigraphy, palaeomagnetism, and the evidence of fossil flora and fauna found in the sediments. The combined evidence suggests that the sediments were laid down at the end of a period of reversed magnetism between 780,000 to 1 million years ago.

The exact date of the sediments in which the footprints were found has not yet been determined. Two possible dates have been suggested: approximately 850,000 years ago or 950,000 years ago, but further research will be necessary to determine which is the correct date.

Archaeological context

Paleolithic handaxe from Happisburgh, found on the beach by a man walking his dog in 2000

Happisburgh is an important archaeological site that has produced a number of significant finds in recent years. As the cliffs along the shore are subject to severe coastal erosion, new material is constantly being exposed in and below the cliffs.

In 2000, a palaeolithic flint handaxe dating to between 600,000 and 800,000 years ago was found on the beach by a man taking a walk. In 2012, for the television documentary Britain's Secret Treasures, this handaxe was selected by a panel of experts from the British Museum and the Council for British Archaeology as the most important item on a list of fifty archaeological discoveries made by members of the public. Since this discovery, the palaeolithic history of Happisburgh has been the subject of a project led by the British Museum, and between 2005 and 2010 some eighty palaeolithic flint tools, mostly cores, flakes, and flake tools, were excavated from the foreshore at Happisburgh by archaeologists. These tools are believed to have been made by Homo antecessor, the same species thought to have made the footprints.

Archaeologists are hoping to reconstruct the environment in which the footprints were made by analysing remains of flora and fauna from the sediments. Remains of 15 species of mammals, 160 species of insects, and more than 100 species of plants have been recovered from the sediments at Happisburgh.

See also

• Ancient footprints of Acahualinca
• Eve's footprint

External links

• The earliest human footprints outside Africa found in Norfolk — video of the footprints by the Natural History Museum, London
• Happisburgh project at the British Museum