Hominin Footprints from Early Pleistocene Deposits at Happisburgh, UK

Abstract

Investigations at Happisburgh, UK, have revealed the oldest known hominin footprint surface outside Africa at between ca. 1 million and 0.78 million years ago. The site has long been recognised for the preservation of sediments containing Early Pleistocene fauna and flora, but since 2005 has also yielded humanly made flint artefacts, extending the record of human occupation of northern Europe by at least 350,000 years. The sediments consist of sands, gravels and laminated silts laid down by a large river within the upper reaches of its estuary. In May 2013 extensive areas of the laminated sediments were exposed on the foreshore. On the surface of one of the laminated silt horizons a series of hollows was revealed in an area of ca. 12 m2. The surface was recorded using multi-image photogrammetry which showed that the hollows are distinctly elongated and the majority fall within the range of juvenile to adult hominin foot sizes. In many cases the arch and front/back of the foot can be identified and in one case the impression of toes can be seen. Using foot length to stature ratios, the hominins are estimated to have been between ca. 0.93 and 1.73 m in height, suggestive of a group of mixed ages. The orientation of the prints indicates movement in a southerly direction on mud-flats along the river edge. Early Pleistocene human fossils are extremely rare in Europe, with no evidence from the UK. The only known species in western Europe of a similar age is Homo antecessor, whose fossil remains have been found at Atapuerca, Spain. The foot sizes and estimated stature of the hominins from Happisburgh fall within the range derived from the fossil evidence of Homo antecessor.

Experience based reading of Pleistocene human footprints in Pech-Merle

“…Well known and among the most spectacular are footprints from early hominids in Laetoli and Koobi Fora in East Africa (Leakey and Harris, 1987;Raichlen et al, 2008), the early Pleistocene ones recently discovered at Happisburgh on the English east coast (Ashton et al, 2014) and the late Pleistocene footprints from Willandra, southeastern Australia (Webb et al, 2006).…”

Uneven Data Quality and the Earliest Occupation of Europe—the Case of Untermassfeld (Germany)

“…The hypothesis however was falsified by new evidence from the Atapuerca TD sequence (Carbonell et al 1995), with finds older than 800 ka, that passed the test and led to modification of the original model (Dennell and Roebroeks 1996). For northern Europe, the threshold of 500-600 ka still held firm until new sites were discovered in the UK with evidence from Pakefield at6 00-700 ka (Parfitt et al 2005;Roebroeks 2005) and even older from Happisburgh Site 3 (Ashton et al 2014;Parfitt et al 2010). It is important to underline that the hypothesis was falsified by new data from new sites as a result of new fieldwork, in the case of the Atapuerca TD sequence even explicitly aimed at falsifying the hypothesis (Carbonell et al 1999), and not by new data from contested early sites, such as the ones mentioned above.…”

Climate change stories and the Anthroposcenic

“…Key AHOB findings were made at Happisburgh on the north-east Norfolk coast, including 800,000 year old hominin footprints in forest bed deposits on the shore in May 2013 12 . Research sites had been exposed by erosion following the destruction and nonreplacement of sea defences; Happisburgh, following significant property loss, had also become a key site in debates over contemporary coastal management.…”