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Britain's Eastern Coast Yields Oldest Human Footprints Outside Africa
schwit1 writes "They were a British family on a day out — almost a million years ago. Archaeologists announced Friday that they have discovered human footprints in England that are between 800,000 and 1 million years old — the most ancient found outside Africa, and the earliest evidence of human life in northern Europe. A team from the British Museum, London's Natural History Museum and Queen Mary college at the University of London uncovered imprints from up to five individuals in ancient estuary mud at Happisburgh on the country's eastern coast."
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?
And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark satanic mills?
Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!
I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.
old news... It was everywhere Thursday. Salshdot is really pathetic now, even the non beta page...
And did those feet
in ancient time
Walk upon Englands mountains green
And please keep the Slashdot classic
As far as I know, the model states that humans migrated from Africa a couple of hundred thousand years ago. Footsteps in Britain from "humans" 1 million years ago would seem to contradict this? Or does this simple mean that these footprints are a Neanderthal precursor species or something similar that's not actually "proper" humans?
Anyone with some more knowledge of this care to shine a light on this?
I'm sorry, but how can anyone really believe that these pre-date the creation of the planet? Was anyone THERE at THAT TIME to OBSERVE exactly when and by whom the footprints were made? Seems pretty silly to me to believe in this non-obervational "science"! I've got a good book that I can recommend that answers all these questions and more....
Same people. Primitive GPS was really bad but people still blindly followed directions.
rewriting history since 2109
Depends on the varient of the theory. One of those is that there were multiple diasporas of early humans out of Africa, but most of the early explorers died out in the ice ages or other calamities, while others may have survived longer to become the various off shoots of the human tree found in the fossil records. I'd say that idea doesn't really suffer from this find, if anything it strengthens it and establishes that humans must have started expanding out of their ancestral homelands much sooner than many may have thought and certainly doesn't prevent all of us current humans from from being decended from a much more recent Mitochondrial Eve that lived in Africa approx 100,000-200,000 years ago.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
It would have been H. erectus, and since we view them,as members of genus Homo, it doesn't seem a huge stretch to call them humans.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
not homo sapiens in another article they identified Homo heidelbergensis
unfortunately, they were quickly eroded by the sea and no long term study was possible to see if it was just foot shaped depressions or actual footprints
a day late and short on info, woe unto slashdot
Can the footprints tell us if they had crooked teeth?
They said well it's possible they were a lot more advanced than we thought. You think? Unless there was a land bridge or glacier linking France and England, that means they were ship builders.
The Individual Midnight Thread - Farewell
Yes, I have read in the article that it presumably was 'Homo antecessor'. Species determination fromsets of footprints is very hard. We are 'homo sapiens' so calling it human is a bit of a stretch.
This space is intentionally staring blankly at you
multiple diasporas are strongly supported by fossil and tool evidence
this is just the first example of footprints as far north as Britain
There is no clear proof that these were (they have already washed away) anything more than depressions that looked like footprints
It's obviously footprint of Arthur Philip Dent when he was back in the past abord the phone's cleaner spaceship.
Ceci n'est pas une Signature !
um.... no
It is pretty well established that homo species originated from Africa
In this case, Homo heidelbergensis, has fossil record in Africa going back 1.3 million years, with other significant finds in Spain
Everything (particularly the 'tapering' of evidence) points to small populations of varying homo species leaving Africa and spreading wherever they could walk
This has so many problems. Number one. the photograph is undated, so who knows the reference point for the footprint dating? Number two. the lens cap is obviously intelligently designed. This foot print is 4000 years old. Max.
On a summer's beach outing with the family?
And why is it called Homo heidelbergensis? Heidelberg (for Americans: Heidelburg) is neither in Africa nor in Spain. (Yes, the first remainings of H. heidelbergensis were found on a graveyard(!) in Heidelberg, Germany).
In any case I don't know where your data comes from. There was significant population in Europe almost two million years ago, with significant finds correlating to this one 1 million years ago. It is true that Neandertal was a couple hundred thousand years ago, but that was a species thing, not the presence of Hominidae.
It is true that through the 20th century the single migration theory out of africa was the preeminent explanation for how humans migrated. However, we are no seeing the picture is more complex.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
reading is food for your brain
It is also called Homo rhodesiensis, because it was found in Rhodesia as well
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_heidelbergensis
You're over-exaggerating the out-of-placedness of these footprints.
Do you know what multiple ice ages does to the surface? Britain and especially southern Britain is just southern enough that some fossils could have survived. It seems fairly likely that there were humans, either Homo Erectus or some closely related species, all the way up in northern Scandinavia between the several ice ages over the last million years, but we will probably never find evidence that they were there.
The researchers said the humans who left the footprints may have been related to Homo antecessor, or "pioneer man," whose fossilized remains have been found in Spain. That species died out about 800,000 years ago.
Direct quote. Fuck me, I won't have to try very hard to boycott.
This is England, it will be called Homo Swishpooferectus, (For the rest of the world) an early ancestor to the current Queen of England; Elton John.
Found in a pub near South London, stuck under a table in a back booth.
Time travelling Incas?
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
Was anyone THERE at THAT TIME to OBSERVE exactly when and by whom the footprints were made?
Yes, someone WAS there at the time as a matter of fact.
One of the footprint makers THEMSELVES, informed me in a vision, Just exactly how the footprints were made, and who made them.
Their names were Bob, Harry, and Alley Oop. The infamous Oop brothers. They took a wrong turn leaving 'The Cave'(a popular local pub at the time), and ended up on the beach by mistake.
Now their blunder was recorded for history.
And further more, I'll be writing a book detailing all of my visions(sent by Harry Oop), and the book will also have all the answers to everything.
*teaser from upcoming book* ;-)
It was Bob Oop that discovered friction made fire, as he slid down a steep embankment. He later remarked that it was handy there was a creek nearby, or the discovery of firemaking might have been delayed by centuries if he had burnt up then, and it made his hemorrhoids act up!
On a less sarcastic note, why don't you keep your myths and cults out of a science discussion.
Your myths have no useful information for the discussion, just like my 'Oop brothers' fabricated story above....NOTHING.
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
I don't doubt that H. heidelbergensis indeed lived in Spain and Africa, but additionally, he lived in Central Europe.
"Science needs to be open to new ideas"
I'll tell him when he gets back in.
From yo momma's house...
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Depends on how you define "human." The people who left these footprints would probably be recognizable to us as, well, people, i.e. genus Homo, but would also recognizably very different from any people living today, i.e. Homo sapiens sapiens. The vast bulk of evidence points to successive waves of hominins arising in Africa and migrating outward, with the last such group being us. And since Homo is about two and a half million years old as best we can tell, there's was plenty of time for members of the species that left these footprints, probably Homo antecessor, to do just that.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
This is just one of many proofs/evidences, that not all humans originated from Africa, that we have been walking this earth for millions of years. So evolution doesn't exist, and those stupid Americans with there intelligent design, which should originate 600 ? or 6000 years. Our origin is far greater than most people today believe...
We only need to really watch all the proof that's there. And not discard everything that doesn't fit in our way of life...
Homo *sapiens* migrated out of africa roughly 100k years ago.
These are not homo sapiens, they were members of an earlier and now extinct human race which had already spread from Africa to cover Europe and Asia at an earlier time.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Friends don't let friends enable ecmascript.
Moved around a lot for work.
So sorry, but it's Heidelberg here in the States too.
"berg" = hill, "burg" = city/town.
Which is not to imply that there are people who can't spell Heidelberg here - after all, there are people who can't spell "their" here....
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
It's proof that time travel is real. I bet if they looked for it, they will locate the imprint of the Tardis.
"the early explorers died out in the ice ages or other calamities"
You human centric slob! The earth is what is important and an ice age or anything else (except human occupation) was NOT a calamity for the earth. The earth is OK with almost everything including asteroid hits, ice ages, super volcanoes and plate tectonics. But humanoids burning hydrocarbons? No way!
Look as closely at the "footprints" as you can in these images:
http://www.independent.co.uk/n...
And then consider this statement:
http://www.independent.co.uk/n...
"Of the 50 or so examples recorded, only around a dozen were reasonably complete - and only two showed the toes in detail. Tragically, although a full photogrammetric and photographic record has been made, all but one of the prints were rapidly destroyed by incoming tides before they could be physically lifted."
Sooooo .. they existed (presumably buried by the seaside) for almost a million years .. appear, and then are DESTROYED by the next incoming tide?
Riiiii-ight.
Heidelbergenisis is pretty hard to spell and pronounce. Homo Heildelbergvariousrandomplacesinanarcbetweenafricaandnorway would be quite a larger mouthful.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
I haven't walked the seashore. I haven't examined the sediments (and never will now, apparently). I'm certainly not the bearer of an archeology sheepskin from some exalted university.
But ...
http://www.independent.co.uk/n...
http://www.independent.co.uk/i...
Does anyone see more than two prints in any sort of logical and likely walking pattern? You know, one in front of the other, left foot, right foot? No, I didn't think so.
"Of the 50 or so examples recorded, only around a dozen were reasonably complete - and only two showed the toes in detail. Tragically, although a full photogrammetric and photographic record has been made, all but one of the prints were rapidly destroyed by incoming tides before they could be physically lifted."
That's odd: EVERY bare foot print I've ever seen clearly showed the toes (even Bigfoot's!). And how curious, that "footprints" cast in rock-hard sediment that has survived for a million years beside a seaside that's repeatedly changed depth over the milleniums .. suddenly are totally and almost completely destroyed by the very next incoming tide? How .. unfortunate.
The Happisburgh geology (readily available with the most trivial search) also does not support this. The beach surfaces and their underlying sedimentary structure are NOT a million years old.
https://www.bgs.ac.uk/landslid...
http://books.google.com/books?...
No, I'm sorry, I'm not buying this. Someone was seeing what they wanted to see.
Two pairs of ancient footprints in Norfolk are from a father, mother, and son. Early Norfolk Man had six toes like his modern day cousin/sister/mother.
we won't miss you
"The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
"The footprints themselves, which survived for almost 1 million years, won't be there. Two weeks after they were uncovered, North Sea tides had washed them away."
So they lasted 800k years and then 2 weeks later they were washed away?
FUCK OFF!
Yes, Homo Sapiens (proper humans) first appeared about 200kya. However there were other species of "humans" well before that, they too originated from Africa and walked upright. The ice ages regularly pushed the spread of all primates back toward the equator.
Also if you (gasp) RTFA it tells you that the prints were probably left by Homo Antecessor, (pioneer man), sadly the prints were washed away 2 weeks after they were discovered so we can never know for sure.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
"The Earth does not need saving, we do" - George Carlin.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
It would have been H. erectus
TFA says it was probably 'Homo Antecessor'. Wether a particular species of ape is called human or not seems to depend on the hips and skull, AFAIK all apes that walked upright are commonly referred to as humans (or proto-humans) by archaeologists. The rest of us call them "ape men".
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Seems silly to boycott the classic site, the boycott of the beta needs no organisation, it will happen organically.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
BBC article on human presence in Britain one million years ago. With a nice map showing that Britain was not an island at that time.
This site used to be great. Even in its latter days, it's been good. That is poised to change. Before long, it will be mediocre, and ordinary.
I didn't see a problem when Dice Holdings initially bought Slashdot. I figured there would be efforts to drive nerd traffic towards their job listings and such. That was fine. We all need jobs.
Things have changed now. Beyond the shifts in story choices, the slashvertisements, and so on, something fundamental has changed: Slashdot's owners do not appreciate it.
Their recent financials show that they have written its value as an asset down to zero. They have legally claimed it to be worthless. That is at the root of what is happening now. They want to fundamentally change the nature of this site in order to remake it into something with big growth potential.
Beta is just the latest symptom of this disease. It will not be the last. In striving to make it into a site that will bring them a growing user base and growing revenue per user, they have shown a willingness to dumb down the interface in the name of making it more accessible to newcomers, to cast aside essential elements of decade-spanning community culture, and to plow ahead with changes in the face of overwhelmingly negative user feedback.
This is not going to change. This will not go away. I will not support it.
I will be gone for this entire week, in protest. While away, I will work to create a new community where things can be run with quality user discussions as the paramount objective.
Be seeing you.
This is just your interpretation of how we should interpret certain parts of the Bible, and that there are many countless believers that would find your interpretation silly, even heretical. Once, I had a conversation with an Orthodox Jewish person about whether the Jewish prohibitions against certain foods was due to health concerns of the day. His response was, "No, these are the commandments. We don't follow them because of health issues. We follow them because God said to." That's not even a paraphrasing. You can't accuse someone of cherry picking bits of the Bible or interpretations of Bible passages without acknowledging that believers do also as a critical part of their specific faith, do the very same thing. I applaud you for trying to find logic in those verses. It can't be all an illogical though poetic mess, but you can't just presume that these laws had any rational basis. People were NOT smarter then than they are now. They weren't beholden to any great esoteric wisdom, and in fact, in those days, everyone was looking for the next Messiah. People constantly claimed being messiahs. The people then who wrote those verses were subject to the same prejudices and irrational knee-jerk reactions as people are today. Somewhere in the Bible is an ancient version of Freedom Fries.
If they were in Norfolk its probably just Homoamphibius they dredge these guys up every now and again to appear on Dr Who
Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.
Not modern humans, not sapiens sapiens. Some branch of interbreed between neanderthal and homo erectus
Anonymous calumny of the English is pathetic. Many of you Americans are descended from the same English poofs. So much for the vaunted "special relationship". Our young men are dieting in Afghanistan and Iraq to aid America. Is this the sort of homophobic rubbish we have to hear as a reward. Shame on you!
Evidence of bipedialism in foot prints and foot & hip bones nearly three million years ago. Modest tool use at that time. Human size brains in Neandetahl race 300K years ago. Modern complex culture- clothing, art, fine tools- only 80K years ago.
There are people here who can't spell the word "to". That alarms me more than slashdot beta; all the people who want to be nerds but never read a book in their lives that they weren't forced to. I crings at many of the aliterate, almost illiterate postings here in the last several years, and it's getting worse. Please mod illiteracy, aliteracy, and general ignorance down! ...too bad idiots get mod points, too.
And I think those are the people Dice is catering to. Ot should that be "cratering?" I fear my beloved slashdot is not long for this world, alas.
But I thought the Earth was only 9,000 years old?
"Honey are you sure we're in Africa yet?"
"Yea, yea just a few more steps"