Where: Boxgrove, Sussex Latitude: 50.870537 Longitude: -0.693940 Site: Oldest human remains in Britain Using a mobile device?: View full content here Importance: Oldest human remains in Britain Extra: A shin bone and two teeth are the oldest direct evidence of humans ever uncovered in Britain. They reveal that the people living at Boxgrove half a million years ago were probably the species Homo heidelbergensis. Beautifully crafted handaxes and cut marks on rhinoceros, horse and deer bones suggest these people were expert at butchering large animals. Link1: First Britons Link2: Link3: External1: Boxgrove project website External2: Image: Caption: The 500,000-year-old shin bone (tibia) found at Boxgrove. Copyright: |
Where: Gough's Cave, Somerset Latitude: 51.281869 Longitude: -2.765523 Site: Evidence of cannibalism and possible ritualistic behaviour Using a mobile device?: View full content here Importance: Evidence of cannibalism and possible ritualistic behaviour Extra: In 2011, AHOB project scientists published analyses of 14,700-year-old human remains from Gough's Cave. Leg bones and ribs belonging to several individuals show clear evidence of cannibalism. The bones were smashed open and gnawed to extract marrow. Skulls had been carefully shaped to create cups or bowls, raising the possibility that people were eating other people as a ritual. They are the oldest directly dated human skull-cups in the world. |
Where: Happisburgh, Norfolk Latitude: 52.826667 Longitude: 1.532778 Site: Earliest evidence of humans in Britain Using a mobile device?: View full content here Importance: Earliest evidence of humans in Britain Extra: Flints unmistakably made by humans excavated at Happisburgh site 3 are about 900,000 years old and the most ancient tools ever found in Britain. The identity of the early human pioneers who made them isn't known, but other European discoveries point towards a species called Homo antecessor. The remarkable preservation of plants and animals at the site paints a detailed picture of the environment in which they existed. Link1: Homo antecessor Link2: VIDEO: Discovering the earliest pioneers Link3: NEWS: Earliest northern Europeans External1: AHOB website: Happisburgh discoveries External2: Image: Caption: One of the flint tools found at Happisburgh site 3. Copyright: © The Trustees of the British Museum |
Where: Kent's Cavern, Devon Latitude: 50.468200 Longitude: -3.503000 Site: Earliest evidence of Homo sapiens in Britain Using a mobile device?: View full content here Importance: Earliest evidence of Homo sapiens in Britain Extra: The importance of this jaw fragment found in 1927 was only fully realised after a study by scientists from the AHOB project. By radiocarbon dating animal bones excavated above and below the jawbone, they showed it was potentially at least 40,000 years old. Their analysis of the teeth confirmed it as early modern human rather than Neanderthal, making it the earliest direct evidence for the presence of our own species in Britain. |
Where: Beeches Pit, Suffolk Latitude: 52.315595 Longitude: 0.636357 Site: First evidence of controlled fire in Britain Using a mobile device?: View full content here Importance: First evidence of controlled fire in Britain Extra: Distinct patches of burnt ground indicate a series of hearths at Beeches Pit. At around 400,000 years old, they are the earliest convincing evidence for the controlled use of fire in Britain. The people using the hearths would have benefited from extra warmth and light, protection from animals and a way to cook their food, which makes it easier to digest and renders many parasites and toxins harmless. |
Where: Clacton-on-Sea, Essex Latitude: 51.777582 Longitude: 1.127953 Site: World's oldest wooden spear Using a mobile device?: View full content here Importance: World's oldest wooden spear Extra: Wood rarely survives in the archaeological record. This find reminds us that early humans probably had a sophisticated toolkit made from wood and other materials that would usually have rotted. Almost 40cm long, this is the broken end of an originally longer object, whittled to a point with a stone tool. It would have made a lethal weapon. Other more complete spears found in Germany suggest it may have been the tip of a two-metre-long lance. |
Where: Doggerland, North Sea Latitude: 51.756312 Longitude: 3.344621 Site: First ancient human remains recovered from the sea bed Using a mobile device?: View full content here Importance: First ancient human remains recovered from the sea bed Extra: Link1: NEWS: Neanderthal of the North Sea Link2: Neanderthal fact file Link3: External1: External2: Image: Caption: Copyright: |
Where: Formby Point, Mersey Estuary Latitude: 53.548837 Longitude: -3.104177 Site: Well-preserved human footprints and trails Using a mobile device?: View full content here Importance: Well-preserved human footprints and trails Extra: Link1: Link2: Link3: External1: Formby footprints website External2: National Trust website: Beyond the Formby footprints Image: Caption: One of the human footprints at Formby. Copyright: © Gordon Roberts |
Where: Trafalgar Square, London Latitude: 51.507475 Longitude: -0.128425 Site: Animal fossils that indicate Britain had become an island Using a mobile device?: View full content here Importance: Animal fossils indicate Britain had become an island Extra: Fossils show that the mix of mammal species living here 125,000 years ago was unique to Britain at that time. It was a strange combination of Eurasian woodland species and animals such as those now found in Africa. Hippos, lions, rhinos and elephants lived alongside red and fallow deer. At this time, Britain was an island, with no human inhabitants. Link1: Britain's changing landscape Link2: Britain's ice age animals Link3: External1: BBC website: Ice age safari video External2: Image: Caption: Building works at Trafalgar Square unearthed this 125,000-year-old hippo canine. Copyright: |
Where: La Cotte de St Brelade, Jersey Latitude: 49.175966 Longitude: -2.188300 Site: Evidence of Neanderthal behaviour Using a mobile device?: View full content here Importance: Evidence of Neanderthal behaviour Extra: Neanderthals lived here intermittently for almost 200,000 years, including during a severe cold period, which caused humans to abandon mainland Britain about 180,000 years ago. The surrounding landscape and thousands of artefacts reveal much about these people’s lives. Piles of bones stacked against the cave wall, for example, not only indicate that the La Cotte Neanderthals hunted and killed mammoths, but that they apparently liked to clear their workspace after butchering carcasses. |
Where: Lynford, Norfolk Latitude: 52.520491 Longitude: 0.686730 Site: First evidence of a Neanderthal return to Britain after an apparent absence of 120,000 years Using a mobile device?: View full content here Importance: First evidence of a Neanderthal return to Britain after an apparent absence of 120,000 years Extra: No definite trace of humans between 180,000 and 60,000 years ago has been found in Britain. Severe glacial conditions forced Neanderthals out and when conditions improved, Britain became cut off from the rest of Europe, hindering their return. Stone tools excavated at Lynford are the earliest evidence of their reappearance. The remains of at least 11 mammoths have also been unearthed here. Missing limb bones and other clues suggest Neanderthals processed them for food. |
Where: Pakefield, Suffolk Latitude: 52.431914 Longitude: 1.728862 Site: One of the oldest known human occupations in Britain Using a mobile device?: View full content here Importance: One of the oldest known sites of human occupation in Britain Extra: Simple but sharp-edged stone tools left behind at Pakefield around 700,000 years ago are among the oldest traces of humans in Britain. Tiny fossils of small mammals, vole teeth in particular, helped to prove the great age of the artefacts. When scientists reported the findings in 2005, this was the earliest evidence for people living in Britain, although that distinction has since passed to footprints and flint tools found at Happisburgh. |
Where: Goat’s Hole, Paviland, Wales Latitude: 51.549928 Longitude: -4.255604 Site: Using a mobile device?: View full content here Importance: Oldest known burial in Britain Extra: This man was buried in a Welsh cave about 34,000 years ago. His body was decorated with periwinkle shells, red pigment and jewellery made from mammoth ivory. This is the earliest evidence found in Britain of modern humans treating their dead with some form of spiritual ritual. When discovered in 1823, the bones were mistakenly believed to belong to a woman. The individual is still often referred to as the 'Red Lady of Paviland'. |
Where: Pontnewydd Cave, Wales Latitude: 53.227117 Longitude: -3.476466 Site: Using a mobile device?: View full content here Importance: Rare evidence of Neanderthals in Wales Extra: Excavations at this cave between 1978 and 1995 unearthed teeth belonging to at least five individuals. X-rays of the molar teeth show they had fused roots and enlarged pulp cavities, which are characteristic of Neanderthals. Tooth wear indicates there were three children, one young adult and a more mature adult, suggesting family groups of Neanderthals lived here. Dated to about 230,000 years ago, they are the oldest human remains known from Wales. |
Where: Barnfield Pit, Swanscombe, Kent Latitude: 51.444686 Longitude: 0.298174 Site: Using a mobile device?: View full content here Importance: Early Neanderthal skull discovery, perhaps one of the first Neanderthals in Britain Extra: Three pieces of this skull were found between 1935 and 1955, scattered in a gravel pit in the same layer as thousands of hand axes. The inside surfaces of the skull are so well preserved that they show impressions of the folds and blood vessels on the brain’s surface. These indicate that this brain was the same size as human brains today. The skull has some characteristic Neanderthal features, including a small pit where the neck muscles attached to the skull. |