My oldest artefact

[East Anglian]

Several years ago on an open day visit to the Palaeolithic site at Happisburgh. The 'cliffs' (sand dunes) are rapidly eroding into the North Sea. Several years earlier the site of an old riverside had been identified in the erosion, dating between 850,000 and 950,000 ybp. Lots and lots of stone artefacts have been recovered mainly by local enthusiasts in collaberation with the British Museum. Lots were on display in the local village hall that day. Wonderful bifaces, so fresh looking from beautiful raw flintstone.

I held a coprolite that to my eyes looked suspiciously human.

Footprints had been recorded in the erosion deposits on the beach. The oldest recorded in Europe. They had to move quick because the sea soon destroyed them:

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/the-oldes...urope.html

I'm an old flinter. I use to conduct surface collection surveys in the Brecks of East Anglia. I would record the scatters and their densities of late prehistoric struck flint. Mainly flakes from the Neolithic to Iron Age. Sometimes a treasured microlith or tranchet axehead from the Mesolithic.

But just as we turned to leave the site, I pick this from the sands up on the beach:



Not often that you pick up a 900,000 year old artefact.

[Rufus191]

What an amazing find . I was fascinated by the evidence of very early human settlement at Happisburgh, incredible that Homo Antecessor may have been over 1000km/621 miles further north than the previous found remains at Atapuerca in Spain around 800,000 years ago! You can watch a little about their earlier discoveries on a Digging for Britian episode (S1 E2) on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsPVVRkKzKg

This Natural History Museum link is also very informative
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/first-britons.html

Ray Mears also covered the Happisburgh finds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51DXyCaqy4k