Happisburgh footprints

The Happisburgh footprints were a set of fossilized hominid footprints that date to the early . They were discovered in May 2013 in a newly uncovered sediment layer on a beach at Happisburgh (ⁱ/ˈheɪz.bɜːrə/ HAYZ-bur-ə) in Norfolk, England, and were destroyed by the tide shortly afterwards.

Results of research on the footprints were announced on 7 February 2014, and identified them as dating to more than 800,000 years ago. They are the oldest known hominid footprints outside Africa. Before the Happisburgh discovery, the oldest-known footprints in Britain were at Uskmouth in South Wales, from the Mesolithic and carbon-dated to 4,600 BC. Prior to the Happisburgh discovery, the oldest known human footprints in Europe were a set of tracks found at the Roccamonfina volcano in Italy, dated to around 350,000 years ago.

The footprints were discovered in May 2013 by Nicholas Ashton, curator at the British Museum, and Martin Bates from Trinity St David's University, who were carrying out research as part of the Pathways to Ancient Britain (PAB) project. The footprints were found in sediment, partially covered by beach sand, at low tide on the foreshore at Happisburgh. The sediment had been laid down in the estuary of a long-vanished river and subsequently been covered by sand, preserving its surface. The layer of sediment underlies a cliff on the beach, but after stormy weather the protective layer of sand was washed away and the sediment exposed. Because of the softness of the sediment, which lay below the high tide mark, tidal action eroded it, and within two weeks the footprints had been destroyed.

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