Million-Year-Old Footprints Found as Some of Earliest Proof of Human Life

About 50 human footprints almost 1 million years old were discovered in England last year, and new research published on Friday determined that these footprints were the earliest evidence of human footprints outside of Africa.

The footprints were discovered in the village of Happisburgh, Norfolk, by a team of experts from the British Museum, the Natural History Museum and Queen Mary University of London. Of the 50 footprints, only about a dozen were complete with details.

The footprints may prove the existence of a group of early humans — one or two adult males, two or three adult females or teenagers and at least three or four children. The prints showed they were walking upstream, away from what would have been the estuary of the Thames River. Ancient pollen found at the site dated this walk during the interglacial period, right before the Ice Age. Temperatures at night would hang around a cozy 5 degrees Fahrenheit Read more...