Britain: One Million Years of the Human Story

Dating back 850,000-950,000 years, these ancient footprints
 recently found at Happisburgh on the Norfolk coast are the
earliest-known human tracks yet identified outside Africa.

These days we Brits define ourselves very much as an island nation, but until about 6,000 years ago we were connected to Continental Europe by a broad land bridge, allowing humans and animals to roam back and forth. Not that this was an easy place to settle - archaeological evidence tells a story of multiple waves of would-be colonists making their way to these shores, only to be driven back or wiped out by dramatic climate change or advancing ice sheets.

Finally, as the ice sheets withdrew for the last time in around 12,000 BC, a group of migrants were able to cling on, and it is from these prehistoric pioneers - thought to represent the 10th attempt to settle here - that our current population is descended. Compared to our Continental neighbours, then, we are relative newcomers - though archaeological evidence for human activity in this country goes back much further - as much as 1 million years, in fact.

Right now, the most important area of research in this field is a cluster of Palaeolithic sites near the modern village of Happisburgh (Haze-burra) on the North Norfolk coast. Now, as a Norfolk girl myself I could be accused of bias, but this spot is honestly pretty spectacular. It's been in the press most recently because its cliffs are eroding frighteningly fast - you might remember seeing dramatic photos of Happisburgh's outermost houses balanced precariously on the brink of sliding into the sea - talk about living on the edge!

Excavating 'Happisburgh 3', home to the
earliest stone tools yet found in Britain.

But (small comfort to the villagers, granted) the crumbling cliffs have an archaeological silver lining: the erosion has also exposed layers of glacial deposits dating back hundreds of thousands of years. These are thick bands of sediments laid down at a time when Happisburgh lay not on the coast but about 15 miles inland, in a fertile river valley - and within them archaeologists have found animal bones from long-extinct species, plant remains, and the earliest-known manmade stone tools yet found in Britain.

Dating back 850,000-950,000 years, they are significantly earlier than the previous record-holders, found at Pakefield in Suffolk (700,000 years old), and older still than our earliest-known human remains: a few fragmentary bones found at Boxgrove, West Sussex, which date back a mere 500,000 years.

This prehistoric landscape also holds more tangible traces of these early settlers: earlier this year, high tides stripped back layers of sand from the beach below the cliffs to reveal ancient peat deposits, speckled with human footprints. At least 49 prints have been identified, made by at least five individuals, both adults and children - perhaps a family group.

A very friendly
Neanderthal

This research - spearheaded by the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain (AHOB) project - forms the core of the Natural History Museum's wonderful new exhibition, Britain: 1 million years of the human story. After opening with displays and videos exploring these latest exciting developments, winding themed areas draw you back in time, introducing the different hominin species that have inhabited Britain at various times - Homo sapiens (us), Homo heidelbergensis, Neanderthals, and Homo Antecessor (this latter group likely the ones who left behind their tools and tracks at Happisburgh) - and what we can learn about these early settlers from the objects and physical remains that they left behind.

Boxgrove
tibia

What makes this exhibition truly special is that it brings together all the most important early human fossils in one place - for an archaeology enthusiast, it's like being in a gallery full of celebrities,and I confess I did feel a little starstruck. To name-check but a few, you an see a tibia from Boxgrove - one of our earliest-known hominin fossils, likely from a H. Heidelbergensis - as well as the controversial Kent's Cavern maxilla, a fragment of lower jawbone that was found in a cave near Torquay. Recent re-dating has provoked fierce debate among archaeologists, who disagree both over its exact age, and whether it is the earliest-known fragment of a member of our species, or a Neanderthal. There are fragments of a Neanderthal (or H. Heidelbergensis - another disputed fossil) skull from Swanscombe in Essex, and, laid out in a glass case, the skeleton of the fabulous 'Red Lady of Paviland'.

The Swanscombe skull fragments

Found in a Welsh cave in 1823, this skeleton is an amusing example of how spectacularly wrong antiquarians could get their analysis in pre-scientific times. The discoverer, William Buckland, announced that he had found the remains of a woman from the Roman period, perhaps a prostitute who serviced the legionaries based in the camp above her cave. In fact the remains are those of a young man (the 'Red' bit of the name is because the bones are stained with ochre), and much earlier than Roman - recent radiocarbon dating evidence suggests the bones could be as much as 33,000 years old.

At 450,000 years old, the Clacton
 speartip is the oldest surviving
wooden artefact yet found in Britain.

The artefacts on display are spectacular too - at 450,000 years old, the Clacton spear is our earliest-known surviving wooden artefact, and there is also a fine range of stone tools, and bones carved with delicate animal images. Some of the other man-made items are more grisly - cups from Gough's Cave in Somerset, fashioned from human skulls, have been interpreted as evidence of ritual cannibalism.

Keeping a watchful eye over this part of the exhibition are two strikingly realistic - and very charismatic - lifesized reconstructions of a male Neanderthal and a H. Sapiens. The Neanderthal is short and stocky with a friendly, bearded face, while the rugged, squinty appearance of H Sapiens, combined with the twig hanging from his lips like a roll-up, led us to dub him 'Flint Eastwood'.

A skull cup from Gough's Cave, Somerset

A though-provoking final section explores more recent human migration and our genetic make-up - including the revelation that many of us have between 1 and 4% Neanderthal DNA, while equally mind-blowing are the displays of exotic animal bones - lions, elephants, hippo, hyenas - that used to live in this country. Valley'. Walking through Palaeolithic Britain must have been quite the safari.

Britain: One Million Years of the Human Story runs until 28 September 2014 - for more information, visit the exhibition website here.

All images copyright of the Trustees of the Natural History Museum