NHER 60000 (Monument record) - Early hominin footprints

May 2013. Surface recording by the AHOB project.
In early May 2013, severe wave erosion exposed an extensive area of laminated silts on the foreshore at Happisburgh. These silts form part of a series of estuarine sediments previously identified by members of the AHOB project (see NHER 54222) as part of the Hill House Formation, which formed between 1 million and 0.78 million years ago when the land at Happisburgh formed an estuary fed by two rivers.

A series of elongated hollows were identified on the surface of the exposed sediments, which were otherwise flat or gently undulating with ripple structures. The features covered an area of approximately 12 square metres and were recorded using multi-image photogrammetry and laser-scanning over a period of two weeks, but by the end of May the surface had been eroded by the tidal action.

Analysis has verified that the hollows represent early hominid footprints, making this the oldest known hominin footprint surface outside Africa. The impressions were on average 30-50mm deep,140-250mm long, and 60-110mm wide and were visually similar to footprint surfaces dated to the Holocene found at Sefton and the Severn estuary. A total of 152 hollows were measured and the majority yielded dimensions within the expected range of juvenile and adult hominin footprints. In many instances, the arch, front, and back of the foot has been identified and toe impressions were seen in one footprint. No Early Pleistocene hominin fossils have been found in the UK, but body dimensions estimated from the footprints fall within the range currently recorded for Early Pleistocene Homo antecessor fossils found in Spain. The size and direction of the footprints indicates that a group of at least five humans of mixed ages was moving in a southerly direction across the mudflats, within the upper reaches of the estuary. Tidal processes would have rapidly buried the footprints with new silts, effectively preserving them.

Pollen analysis of the sediments indicates that open coniferous forest containing pine, spruce, and some birch covered much of the local area. Alder also grew in the wetter areas, and there were some patches of heath and grassland. This vegetation is characteristic of a cooler climate, such as that found at the beginning or the end of an interglacial period or during an interstadial period, and is consistent with information gathered from other nearby sites (see NHER 54222).

These footprints form one element of a group of internationally significant early hominin sites in Happisburgh investigated by the AHOB project between 2005 and 2013. Other sites include NHER 35385, NHER 54222, and NHER 55744. They have been dated to the Early Pleistocene and early Middle Pleistocene and have yielded flint objects and cut-marked bones associated with well-preserved environmental remains. These sites have pushed back the known record of human occupation of northern Europe by at least 350,000 years and continuing erosion of the coastline is likely to reveal further evidence of our distant past, transforming our understanding of the earliest human occupation of northern latitudes.

See (S1) for further information.
See (S2) to (S4) for associated project websites.
H. Hamilton (HES), 06 June 2014.