Happisburgh

Project leader: Nick Ashton

Department: Prehistory and Europe

Project start: 2004
End date: 2007

External partners:

Simon Parfitt, Natural History Museum,

Dr Simon Lewis Queen Mary University of London,

Professor Jim Rose, Royal Holloway University of London

Project funded by:

The British Museum - The Townley Group

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)

The British Academy

Leverhulme Trust

Description:

The Happisburgh project was set up after flint artefacts (including a handaxe) and butchered bone were discovered in organic muds that underlie the coastal cliffs at Happisburgh, North Norfolk. The cliffs have been severely eroded over the last few years exposing these sediments for the first time. In 2004 Happisburgh site I was excavated, revealing further flint tools, bone, wood and other plant materials, that lay at the marshy edges of a large river. The climate was temperate and was surrounded by coniferous forest. The discovery of the extinct water vole (Arvicola cantiana) suggests that this site dates to about 500,000 to 600,000 years ago.

Two further sites were discovered in 2005, the most important of these being site III, which was excavated in 2006. Here a gravel river channel also revealed flint tools, bone and plant materials, but the site seems to be earlier than site I. The recovery of unusual pollen, together with extinct species of vole and horse suggest that the site is at least 700,000 years old. If it is older than this date, then this would make it the earliest human site in northern Europe.

Further excavations are planned for 2007 to better understand the environment and dating of the site. The evidence from Happisburgh III has huge implications for our understanding of the earliest colonization of Europe and the types of environment in which early humans could survive.

Objectives:

The key objectives are:

To understand better the geological context of the Happisburgh sites;

Through the recovery of biological remains, to understand the types of environment in which humans were living;

To establish whether handaxes were being made at site III as well as site I. Handaxes are not known from any other sites in Europe earlier than 600,000 years ago;

To recover more bone and plant remains in order to better understand the dating of the site.

More information:

Human occupation of the British Isles project: Ancient Britain in its European Context (AHOB 2) www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted_sites/ahob/

Publications:

C.B. Stringer, Homo britannicus: the Incredible Story of Human Life in Britain, (London,  Penguin/Allen Lane, 2006)

Images (from top):

• Excavations at Happisburgh III in 2006
• A handaxe found in the organic river muds at Happisburgh I