Ancient hominids grabbed early northern exposure
British site yields stone tools from oldest known northern Europeans
By Bruce Bower
Excavations at a site in southeastern England indicate that hominids chilled out there a surprisingly long time ago.
Discoveries at Happisburgh, situated on an eroding stretch of coastline near the city of Norwich, show that members of an as-yet-unidentified Homo species settled on the fringes of northern Europe’s boreal forests at least 800,000 years ago and well before many scientists had assumed, say archaeologist Simon Parfitt of University College London and his colleagues.
Hominids repeatedly trekked to this northern locale, Parfitt’s team reports in the July 8 Nature. In excavations from 2005 to 2008, the researchers found 78 palm-sized stones with intentionally sharpened edges in several adjacent sediment layers.