East Anglia Man.
Research in East Anglia, and a new analysis of bones found two decades
ago in a Somerset quarry, show that human beings have been living in
Britain for up to 200,000 years longer than has generally been thought.
Mankind's ancestors may have migrated here as long as 700,000 years ago.
Until now, the oldest evidence of early human beings, or hominids, in
Britain came from about 500,000 years ago, the date attributed to
Boxgrove Man, a member of the species Homo heidelbergensis whose remains
were unearthed at Boxgrove in West Sussex in 1993.
The first results of the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain project,
however, indicate that the first Britons are almost certainly much
older. Animal remains found at a hominid settlement on the East Anglian
coast have been dated to 700,000 years ago, indicating that "Anglia Man"
is at least that old. A re-examination of animal bones and artefacts
unearthed in the 1980s at Westbury-sub-Mendip, in Somerset, have shown
evidence of early human activity 100,000 years before Boxgrove Man.
The revised date for Westbury alone, however, is being hailed as one of
the most exciting developments in British archaeology and palaeontology
since the Boxgrove finds.
"The evidence is starting to mount in favour of hominids having been
here for a long time before Boxgrove," said Professor Chris Stringer,
head of human origins at the Natural History Museum, and director of the
Ancient Human Occupation of Britain project. "We don't yet have the
hominid fossils, as we do for Boxgrove Man, but there are firm hints
that settlement goes back as far as 700,000 years."
Andy Currant, from the museum's department of palaeontology, said: "We
are getting big surprises. The dates are massively earlier than what we
thought they were, by an order of 100,000 years."
Human remains, such as the tibia and teeth found at Boxgrove, have yet
to be unearthed from older periods, but cut marks on animal bones and
flints shaped into primitive hand-axes have been found at the new sites.
Both are firm indicators that mankind's ancestors were present, because
no other animal could account for them. At Westbury, for example, there
are bones belonging to rhinoceroses, hyenas, wolves, bison and cave
bears showing straight cut marks that could have been made only by
butchery with a sharp cutting implement, along with shaped flints that
have been newly identified as hand axes.
The dates involved are much too early for carbon dating - effective only
to about 40,OOOBC - but scientists have been able to calculate good
approximate ages from the known ages of animal fossils found at the
sites.
In particular, the research centres on teeth belonging to a genus of
prehistoric watervole, known as mimomys. About 700,000 years ago these
voles had rooted molars, similar to those of human beings, which grow
once then get worn down through adult life. But by 500,000 years ago,
the animals had evolved rootless molars that continue to grow - an
advantage to creatures that eat tough vegetation.
The voles found at Boxgrove are from the later era, but the East Anglian
ones have primitive molars, dating the site definitively to at least
700,000 years ago. Those at Westbury are of an intermediate form. "The
dating still involves some guesswork, but the best estimate is about
600,000 years ago," Professor Stringer said. Simon Parfitt, a fossil
mammal specialist at the museum and at University College, London, who
analysed the vole fossils, said; "We can put everything in a relative
order, and Westbury could be 100,000 years earlier than Boxgrove. The
Bast Anglian finds go as far back as 700,000 years."
The species of hominid which inhabited the sites remains unknowable
without direct fossils. Professor Stringer said the most likely
candidate is an earlier variety of Homo heidelergensis. It was also
possible they were examples of Homo antecessor, a potentially new
species found at Atapuerca in Spain and the oldest known European
hominid.
Homo heidelergensis, as known from Boxgrove and continental sites, had a
slightly smaller skull than modern man, but was more heavily built, at
about 14 stone in weight and 6ft to height "In my view, it's a direct
ancestor of Homo sapiens," Professor Stringer said.
The Ancient Human Occupation of Britain project, which was started last
year with a grant from the Leverhulme Trust, is also examining human
habitation in Britain since Boxgrove and aims to shed light on when, how
and where hominids lived in these islands. A key question will be an
investigation of a 100,000-year period in which early human beings
appear to have been absent, probably because of climate change.
The Ancient Human Occupation of Britain study has brought together
researchers from many different disciplines with the aim of building up
a comprehensive history of human habitation in England and Wales. As
well as archaeologists and palaeontologists, it involves geologists,
geographers and specialists on fossil mammals. Geological data, for
example, gives a good guide to dates and to local temperatures during
particular epochs, while mammalian remains can be important for judging
human lifestyles.
Meet the Ancestors
Roots of Man are Ten Times Older
While "Anglia Man" and his Somerset cousins appear to be by far the
earliest human beings to have reached Britain, the roots of mankind's
family tree stretch back almost ten times longer in Africa.
Last year, the oldest known human ancestor, Ardipithecus ramidus
kaddaba, who is up to 5.8 million years old. was unearthed in Ethiopia.
[see latest news] Before this, the earliest confirmed hominid was
Ardipithecus ramidia ramidus, who lived 4.4 million years ago.
Other scientists say that Orrorin tugenensis, or Millennium Man, at 6
million years old, is first in the line, but doubts remain about whether
he is part of the human family or another type of ape. Later on comes
Australopithecus afafensis, the 3.75 million-year-old species whose most
famous member is the Ethiopian fossil "Lucy". Homo erectus, the first
confirmed direct ancestor of Homo sapiens, evolved in Africa between 2
million and 1.5 million years ago,
Homo heidelbergensis, the species found at Boxgrove, and which was
probably also present at the East Anglian and Westbury sites, is thought
to have evolved at some time before 500,000 years ago. A possible
separate species, Homo antecessor, may have evolved in Spain at about
the same time. The latest species to evolve were Homo neanderthalis, or
Neanderthal man, which developed about 200,000 years ago, and Homo
sapiens - modem man.
Homo sapiens became anatomically modern in Africa about 100,000 years
ago, and developed modern forms of behaviour such as language up to
70,000 years ago.
An
extraordinary collection of mammoth remains and flint tools unearthed in
a Norfolk quarry may be evidence of the first Neanderthal hunting camp
discovered in Britain, scientists said yesterday.
The 50,000 year old fossils
and artefacts, among the best preserved in this
country, are casting important new light on the lifestyle of Homo
neanderthalis (Neanderthal man), the cousin of modem human beings that
lived in these islands in the last Ice Age. A 12-week archaeological dig
at a gravel pit has revealed a pile of at least seven tusks up to 8ft
long, large teeth and partial skeletons from at least four mammoths,
together with eight Neanderthal flint hand-axes, teeth from a woolly
rhinoceros and reindeer antlers.
Archeologist Neil Larken with a Mammoth Tooth
The
close proximity of the Neanderthal tools and the animal remains - one
hand-axe is actually inside a mammoth skull still attached to a tusk -
suggests that the site was a hunting hide where the hominids ambushed
their prey, or a scavenging ground where the kills of predators, such as
sabre-toothed cats and bears, were butchered and eaten. Either way, the
discoveries will help scientists to piece together new details of the
Neanderthal way of life, solving puzzles about their diet and behaviour.
The Norfolk site contains a network of watering holes, which would have
been an ideal spot for either activity. There are no Neanderthal bones
or teeth, but their presence has been confirmed from the age of the dig
and the style of the hand-axes. Andy Currant, curator of fossil mammals
at the Natural History Museum, said that there was clear evidence of
Neanderthal activity. "You don't get piles of tusks like this unless
someone has gathered them up," he said. "It has to be deliberate. The
hand-axe was the Swiss Army knife of the middle Palaeolithic. If you've
got one actually in or on a skull, you don't have to worry what else
you've got, there's butchery going on. I've never seen anything like
this in Britain." David Miles, chief archaeologist for English Heritage,
which funded the dig, said: "This is as good an example of a Neanderthal
kill site as you will find. This site is not just of national but of
international importance."
The best evidence for Neanderthal hunting comes from Germany, but the
Norfolk hand-axes offer the strongest indication yet of such hunting in
Britain, Mark White, a Palaeolithic archaeologist from Durham
University, said: "It is valid to speculate that the Neanderthal had
gone to this watering place because they knew they would find prey to
kill."
Bill Boismier, of the Norfolk Archaeology Unit, who led the excavation
team, said that the absence of cut marks on the bones, together with
large numbers of carcass beetle fossils found, made scavenging more
likely, although they did not rule out a Neanderthal kill. The
excavations are the first to be supported with a grant from the
Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund, which distributes money raised by a
tax on gravel quarries to environmental and historical projects in such
areas.
Neanderthal Man was present in Europe and Asia from about 130,000 years
ago to, about 30,000 years ago, when it was supplanted by modern man,
Homo sapiens. Woolly mammoth grew to about the same size as a modern
Asian elephant, standing between 8ft and l0ft high at the shoulder and
weighing between four and six tonnes when fully grown.
Neanderthal Man was present in Europe and Asia from about
130,000 years ago to about 30,000 years ago.
A report by Imogen Mowday from the 50000 year old Neanderthal
site
These
images were taken at a newly discovered Neanderthal (Homo neanderthalensis) site in East Anglia dating from approximately
60,000 years ago. Archaeologists continue to work there and are
revealing what may be the most important Palaeolithic site in
Britain since evidence of Homo heidelbergensis, dating from
circa 500,000 years ago, was discovered in Boxgrove in the
1990s. This new site has so far revealed over a dozen bout-coupe
style handaxes, one of which is shown in photograph number one
lodged against fragments of a Woolly Mammoth's tusk. The clear
association of Neanderthal handaxes with a range of Glacial
animal, insect and plant species makes this site the first of
its kind to be found in the U.K.
Imogen Mowday working at the newly discovered site
Woolly mammoth, bears, reindeer and frogs, and
hundreds of flint flakes and tools. The exciting discoveries were
made during the draining of a lake for gravel extraction. A local
archaeologist who is a highly skilled flint-toolmaker (a knapper), was
monitoring the gravel extraction to ensure that no archaeology
was damaged or not recorded. The site first became clear to him
when two large mammoth tusks protruded out from a layer of peat.
Immediately work ceased and archaeologists began to record in
fine detail the thousands of fragments of animal bones ranging
from woolly mammoth to bears, reindeer and frogs, alongside many
hundreds of flint flakes and tools.
Neanderthal behaviour
The site will undoubtedly greatly aid our understanding of
Neanderthal behaviour. As David Miles, chief Archaeologist for
English Heritage, expressed it: "We may have discovered a
butchery site, or, what would be even more exciting, first
evidence in Britain of a Neanderthal hunting site, which would
tell us much about their social abilities". Not only may we
learn about the way in which Neanderthals behaved in order to
obtain food, the discovery of mammoth tusks in a concentrated
area may indicate that the Neanderthals used them to construct
shelters or territorial markers. Therefore the site's finds may
ultimately allow us to make suggestions about the symbolic
behaviour of Neanderthals and allow them to be viewed as highly
intelligent sentient beings, finally removing any old views
depicting them as "primitive".
Missing Link
- The Bradshaw Foundation first revealed this link to modern
European Man ten years ago.
- At that time it was reasonable to believe that prehuman
Anglia Man evolved into English modern man.
- Recently the Bradshaw Foundation changed into the "Journey
of Mankind".
- The old Bradshaw Foundation cannot be accessed even by the
WaybackMachine.