Shocking discovery reveals early humans endured Britain’s harshest Ice Age 700,000 years ago

Archaeologists have found the earliest evidence of humans living through the Ice Ages, dating back to 700,000 years ago. This time period was one of northern Europe’s most extreme ice ages, and researchers say that they have proof that humans lived in Britain at this time. The discovery was made during excavations done at Old Park along the River Stour in Canterbury, Kent. The Cambridge University archaeologists published their findings in Nature Ecology and Evolution. Their findings show that an early human species, named Homo heidelbergensis, resided in the region between 712,000 and 621,000 years ago. This species is believed to be the ancestor of Neanderthals. Upon digging up the area, the researchers came across the oldest human records in northern Europe. This comprised thousands of stone tools buried in sands and gravels.

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Humans lived in Britian at the height of Anglian glaciation

The Anglian glaciation was European prehistory’s most severe ice age. Several similar artefacts have been found in Canterbury since the 1920s, but when fresh excavations started in 2020, the archaeologists came across even older sediments. The lower layers of gravel showed early occupation by the species. Meanwhile, the deposits that dated to around 440,000 years ago, from the Anglian glaciation, revealed sharp flint tools buried deep within the gravel. Scientists think that they were produced at this site, not reached here through natural forces. Considering the way they were found, they think the tools were produced during the glaciation. The residents then buried them to prevent them from being damaged by erosion.

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The discovery disputes earlier research that showed that Britain was uninhabitable during the Ice Age and other coldest periods. Scientists have always thought that only when the region got warmer did people start inhabiting Britain. But the latest discovery has proved that this was not the case. It has also raised questions about how they managed to survive in such extreme conditions. Plant remains found at the site date back to earlier researchers who showed the area as a cold grassland during this Ice Age. Extinct rhinoceroses and horses lived here, although they could have migrated for a few seasons and then left. The study authors think that these humans most likely covered themselves with animal skins and followed migrating herds to survive. Whatever they did, archaeologists say that it shows how resilient early humans were since surviving the Anglian glaciation would have required social cooperation and immense knowledge about the environment, building shelters and making clothes.