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02-07-2014, 01:25 PM
800,000-year-old imprints 're-write our understanding of history'
Early humans were related to Homo antecessor known as ‘Pioneer Man’
Species dates from 1.2 million ago and became extinct 600,000 years ago
50 prints were made by children and adults with one being a UK size 8
Scientists estimate heights varied from 0.9m (3ft) to over 1.7m (5ft 7ins)
Prints were found at Happisburgh in May last year but quickly eroded away
Scientists stitched together photographs to create a permanent 3D record
It is hoped new footprints will be revealed as winter storms batter the coast
By ELLIE ZOLFAGHARIFARD and VICTORIA WOOLLASTON and SARAH GRIFFITHS
PUBLISHED: 10:38 GMT, 7 February 2014 | UPDATED: 14:10 GMT, 7 February 2014
The earliest footprints left by humans outside Africa have been found in estuary mud in Norfolk.
Described as 'the most important discovery on British shores', the 800,000-year-old footprints were found in Happisburgh after being exposed by sea tides.
Scientists believe the footprints are evidence of the earliest known humans in northern Europe, previously only revealed through the discovery of animal bones and stone tools.
Scroll down for video...
The footprint surface was exposed at low tide as heavy seas removed the beach sands to reveal a series of elongated hollows cut into compacted silts.
Of the 50 footprints found, only around twelve were reasonably complete while two showed the toes in detail.
'We had no idea what we were looking at,' Dr Nick Ashton told MailOnline.'But it was nothing like we had seen before.'
'I had a feeling it could be very significant, but we could see that the tide was washing it away as quickly as it had exposed it.'
Acting on gut instinct and despite torrential rain, Dr Ashton and his team set to work to record the surface before it was eroded.
Over the next two weeks the team used photogrammetry, a technique that can stitch together digital photographs to create a permanent record and 3D images of the surface.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/01/12/article-2538051-0A5B246A000005DC-339_634x461.jpg
An artist's impression of Happisburgh, Norfolk, when scientists believe it was occupied by an ancient race of humans - who could have been the Homo antecessor or Homo erectus species
It was the analysis of these images that confirmed that the elongated hollows were indeed ancient human footprints, perhaps of five individuals.
'I remember the moment I found out these were human footprints,' said Dr Ashton.
'I was sitting at my desk, I opened an email with an attachment of the images, and I was absolutely astonished.
'You know that feeling you get when a shiver goes down your spine..these are without a doubt the oldest human footprints in Europe and some of the oldest in the world.'
Dr Ashton describes the study, described in science journal PLOS ONE, as 'a truly remarkable discovery.’
It is thought that the prints represent a group of at least one or two adult males, at least two adult females or teenagers and three or four children.
In some cases the heel, arch and even toes could be identified, equating to modern shoes of up to UK size 8.
The early humans would have looked very much like us, but with much smaller brains, said Dr Ashton.
‘PIONEER MAN’: WHO WAS HOMO ANTECESSOR?
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/02/07/article-2553798-1B44178800000578-484_323x398.jpg
Scientists from the British Museum believe the 800,000-year-old footprints may be related to our very early ancestor known as Homo antecessor.
Homo antecessor is one of the earliest known varieties of human discovered in Europe dating back as far as 1.2 million years ago.
Believed to have weighed around 14 stone, Homo antecessor was said to have been between 5.5 and 6ft tall. Their brain sizes were roughly between 1,000 and 1,150 cm³, which is smaller than the average 1,350 cm³ brains of modern humans.
The species is believed to have been right-handed, making it different from other apes, and may have used a symbolic language, according to archaeologists who found remains in Burgos, Spain in 1994.
The importance of the Happisburgh footprints is highlighted by the rarity of footprints surviving elsewhere. Only those at Laetoli in Tanzania at about 3.5 million years and at Ileret and Koobi Fora in Kenya at about 1.5 million years are more ancient.
How Homo antecessor is related to other Homo species in Europe has been fiercely debated.
Many anthropologists believe there was an evolutionary link between Homo ergaster and Homo heidelbergensis. Archaeologist Richard Klein claims Homo antecessor was a separate species completely, that evolved from Homo ergaster.
Others claim Homo antecessor is actually the same species as Homo heidelbergensis, who lived in Europe between 600,000 and 250,000 years ago in the Pleistocene era.
In 2010 stone tools were found at the same site in Happisburgh, Norfolk, believed to have been used by Homo antecessor.
Very little more is known about the physiology of Homo antecessor, due to a lack of fossilised evidence, yet it is hoped the discovery of the Norfolk footprints will shed more light on the species.
Dr Isabelle De Groote from Liverpool John Moores University studied the prints in more detail.
‘In some cases we could accurately measure the length and width of the footprints and estimate the height of the individuals who made them,’ she said.
‘In most populations today and in the past foot length is approximately 15 per cent of height. We can therefore estimate that the heights varied from about 0.9m (3ft) to over 1.7m (5ft 7in).
‘This height range suggests a mix of adults and children with the largest print possibly being a male.’
The orientation of the footprints suggests that they were heading in a southerly direction.
It is thought the group could have made their way to what is now Norfolk across a strip of land that connected Britain to the rest of Europe a million years ago.
Over the last ten years the sediments at Happisburgh have revealed a series of sites with stone tools and fossil bones, dating back to over 800,000 years. This latest discovery is from the same deposits.
FOOTSTEPS OF OUR ANCESTORS PLOTTED AROUND THE WORLD
In 2009, scientists announced footprints found in northern Kenya dating back 1.5million years - when Homo erectus was only just emerging.
The prints were believed to be the earliest evidence of the modern foot anatomy in the world.
These ancient footprints featured a rounded heel, pronounced arch and a big toe parallel to the other toes - just as modern humans have.
The prints were found embedded in rock that was once muddy soil and were likely made by ancient man on his way to a watering hole.
Last year scientists dated what they believe to be the oldest footprints in North America.
The prints were discovered in north eastern Mexico in 1961 and have now been dated to around 10,500 years old.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2553798/Earliest-human-footprints-outside-Africa-discovered-NORFOLK-800-000-year-old-imprints-shed-light-movement-ancient-ancestors.html
Early humans were related to Homo antecessor known as ‘Pioneer Man’
Species dates from 1.2 million ago and became extinct 600,000 years ago
50 prints were made by children and adults with one being a UK size 8
Scientists estimate heights varied from 0.9m (3ft) to over 1.7m (5ft 7ins)
Prints were found at Happisburgh in May last year but quickly eroded away
Scientists stitched together photographs to create a permanent 3D record
It is hoped new footprints will be revealed as winter storms batter the coast
By ELLIE ZOLFAGHARIFARD and VICTORIA WOOLLASTON and SARAH GRIFFITHS
PUBLISHED: 10:38 GMT, 7 February 2014 | UPDATED: 14:10 GMT, 7 February 2014
The earliest footprints left by humans outside Africa have been found in estuary mud in Norfolk.
Described as 'the most important discovery on British shores', the 800,000-year-old footprints were found in Happisburgh after being exposed by sea tides.
Scientists believe the footprints are evidence of the earliest known humans in northern Europe, previously only revealed through the discovery of animal bones and stone tools.
Scroll down for video...
The footprint surface was exposed at low tide as heavy seas removed the beach sands to reveal a series of elongated hollows cut into compacted silts.
Of the 50 footprints found, only around twelve were reasonably complete while two showed the toes in detail.
'We had no idea what we were looking at,' Dr Nick Ashton told MailOnline.'But it was nothing like we had seen before.'
'I had a feeling it could be very significant, but we could see that the tide was washing it away as quickly as it had exposed it.'
Acting on gut instinct and despite torrential rain, Dr Ashton and his team set to work to record the surface before it was eroded.
Over the next two weeks the team used photogrammetry, a technique that can stitch together digital photographs to create a permanent record and 3D images of the surface.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/01/12/article-2538051-0A5B246A000005DC-339_634x461.jpg
An artist's impression of Happisburgh, Norfolk, when scientists believe it was occupied by an ancient race of humans - who could have been the Homo antecessor or Homo erectus species
It was the analysis of these images that confirmed that the elongated hollows were indeed ancient human footprints, perhaps of five individuals.
'I remember the moment I found out these were human footprints,' said Dr Ashton.
'I was sitting at my desk, I opened an email with an attachment of the images, and I was absolutely astonished.
'You know that feeling you get when a shiver goes down your spine..these are without a doubt the oldest human footprints in Europe and some of the oldest in the world.'
Dr Ashton describes the study, described in science journal PLOS ONE, as 'a truly remarkable discovery.’
It is thought that the prints represent a group of at least one or two adult males, at least two adult females or teenagers and three or four children.
In some cases the heel, arch and even toes could be identified, equating to modern shoes of up to UK size 8.
The early humans would have looked very much like us, but with much smaller brains, said Dr Ashton.
‘PIONEER MAN’: WHO WAS HOMO ANTECESSOR?
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/02/07/article-2553798-1B44178800000578-484_323x398.jpg
Scientists from the British Museum believe the 800,000-year-old footprints may be related to our very early ancestor known as Homo antecessor.
Homo antecessor is one of the earliest known varieties of human discovered in Europe dating back as far as 1.2 million years ago.
Believed to have weighed around 14 stone, Homo antecessor was said to have been between 5.5 and 6ft tall. Their brain sizes were roughly between 1,000 and 1,150 cm³, which is smaller than the average 1,350 cm³ brains of modern humans.
The species is believed to have been right-handed, making it different from other apes, and may have used a symbolic language, according to archaeologists who found remains in Burgos, Spain in 1994.
The importance of the Happisburgh footprints is highlighted by the rarity of footprints surviving elsewhere. Only those at Laetoli in Tanzania at about 3.5 million years and at Ileret and Koobi Fora in Kenya at about 1.5 million years are more ancient.
How Homo antecessor is related to other Homo species in Europe has been fiercely debated.
Many anthropologists believe there was an evolutionary link between Homo ergaster and Homo heidelbergensis. Archaeologist Richard Klein claims Homo antecessor was a separate species completely, that evolved from Homo ergaster.
Others claim Homo antecessor is actually the same species as Homo heidelbergensis, who lived in Europe between 600,000 and 250,000 years ago in the Pleistocene era.
In 2010 stone tools were found at the same site in Happisburgh, Norfolk, believed to have been used by Homo antecessor.
Very little more is known about the physiology of Homo antecessor, due to a lack of fossilised evidence, yet it is hoped the discovery of the Norfolk footprints will shed more light on the species.
Dr Isabelle De Groote from Liverpool John Moores University studied the prints in more detail.
‘In some cases we could accurately measure the length and width of the footprints and estimate the height of the individuals who made them,’ she said.
‘In most populations today and in the past foot length is approximately 15 per cent of height. We can therefore estimate that the heights varied from about 0.9m (3ft) to over 1.7m (5ft 7in).
‘This height range suggests a mix of adults and children with the largest print possibly being a male.’
The orientation of the footprints suggests that they were heading in a southerly direction.
It is thought the group could have made their way to what is now Norfolk across a strip of land that connected Britain to the rest of Europe a million years ago.
Over the last ten years the sediments at Happisburgh have revealed a series of sites with stone tools and fossil bones, dating back to over 800,000 years. This latest discovery is from the same deposits.
FOOTSTEPS OF OUR ANCESTORS PLOTTED AROUND THE WORLD
In 2009, scientists announced footprints found in northern Kenya dating back 1.5million years - when Homo erectus was only just emerging.
The prints were believed to be the earliest evidence of the modern foot anatomy in the world.
These ancient footprints featured a rounded heel, pronounced arch and a big toe parallel to the other toes - just as modern humans have.
The prints were found embedded in rock that was once muddy soil and were likely made by ancient man on his way to a watering hole.
Last year scientists dated what they believe to be the oldest footprints in North America.
The prints were discovered in north eastern Mexico in 1961 and have now been dated to around 10,500 years old.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2553798/Earliest-human-footprints-outside-Africa-discovered-NORFOLK-800-000-year-old-imprints-shed-light-movement-ancient-ancestors.html