Category Archives: EUROPE

EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

The First Temple At Gobekli Tepe: Denisovan & Anunnaki Ancient Aliens Origins

The First Temple At Gobekli Tepe: Denisovan & Anunnaki Ancient Aliens Origins

Gobekli Tepe is the oldest known ancient site at the age of 12,000 and is undoubtedly the first known Temple in the world. At least 7,000 years before the Sumerian Empire, its presence raises questions as to how the history of civilization and the early days of the modern man can be traced.

Excavation at the site suggests that the findings present a challenge to both mainstream and alternative historical accounts such as the Ancient Astronaut Theory. The result is an enigma that points to the possibility that the Gobekli Tepe site as the World’s first temple was built either by the Native inhabitants, the Denisovans, or the Anunnaki Ancient Aliens.

The Gobekli Tepe Temple Complex Site

Located in Turkey, Gobekli Tepe is made up of a vast Stone Temple Complex. However, unlike Sumerian or Ancient Egyptian Temple Complexes, there is no writing from which the purpose of the Complex can be understood. Instead, we have a Stone alignment and a series of symbolic inscriptions that suggest the existence of an Astronomy based Religion.

The Gobleki Tepe Site’s alignment to the Cygnus constellation and as a means of marking the Precession of the Equinoxes in Ancient times has been proposed by Andrew Collins and Graham Hancock.

In addition, the Temple inscriptions bear a close resemblance to the symbols that would be used later in Sumerian, Indus Valley, Egyptian and Mesoamerican Temples. It would, therefore, appear that Gobleki Tepe is possibly the site at which the Astronomical Religions of the Ancient world began.

Gobleki Tepe is also credited with being the source of the agricultural knowledge that was later transmitted to these later Ancient Civilizations.

Whilst the Astronomical alignments and Religious symbols at Gobleki Tepe are fairly clear, the identity of the Architects remains a mystery.

The Unknown Architects Of Gobekli Tepe

Without a doubt, the Architects of Gobleki Tepe were of superior intelligence and culture. According to Andrew Collins and Graham Hancock, the Architects were possibly the Denisovans, a now extinct Giant Humanoid hybrid species of superior size and intelligence.

In this view, the builders of Gobleki Tepe may have been the survivors of the great deluge, who established Gobleki Tepe in order to preserve and transmit pre-flood knowledge and culture.

Sitchin’s Ancient Astronaut Theory would also suggest that Gobekli Tepe was a site that was established by the Anunnaki Ancient Aliens after the flood as a means of preserving the pre-flood knowledge.

It has also been argued that the site is the work of local Native Tribes who built the site in Ancient times together with the NAZCA lines using stone tools.

The identity of the Architects of Gobleki Tepe remains an enigma, and it is from its influence on later cultures that perhaps we may obtain some idea as to who is responsible for erecting the Temple Complex.

The Influence Of Gobekli Tepe

Gobleki Tepe’s influence is most evident in the later Civilizations of Sumeria, Egypt, the Indus Valley, and Mesoamerica.

In particular, the symbols and astronomical alignments were first seen at Gobleki Tepe are apparent in these same later Civilizations, forming the foundation of these Civilizations by introducing concepts like Time, Temple Construction, and Religious worship of the Gods.

It would seem the Gobleki Tepe provided a kind of ancient template upon which later Civilizations were built. The references to the Ancient Gods of Sumer, Egypt, India, and Mesoamerica may in-fact be references to the Denovisan founders of the Gobleki Tepe complex who spread the knowledge of Civilization to these regions.

As such, the Ancient Gods in these various regions may in-fact be Giant Hybrid Denovisans rather than Ancient Astronauts as suggested by Zechariah Sitchin. Its therefore possible that the Ancient Gods may not have descended from the Heavens, but were regarded as having done so by the peoples they initiated into the arts of Civilization.

The earliest depictions of the Architects of Gobleki Tepe may possibly be of the Serpent figures of the Ubaid Culture which may be seen as portrayals of Denivosan Giants rather than Alien beings.

Gobleki Tepe culture may have therefore spread and established itself in the Ubaid Region first, then onto Sumer, Egypt, the Indus Valley, and Mesoamerica.

Conclusion

The Giant skeletons that have been unearthed throughout the world and remain unexplained by mainstream Archaeology may belong to the Architects of Gobleki Tepe. A Race of Denovisan Hybrid Giants who initiated all subsequent Cultures into Civilization.

In this sense, Gobekli Tepe may be regarded as some kind of learning center or school for the initiation of early mankind into Civilization after the great deluge. Excavation of the Gobekli Tepe site still continues, and perhaps more revelations will provide clarity as to its purpose, origins, Architects, and influence on later Civilizations.

Nevertheless, at this point, what has been discovered so far brings into question both mainstream history and alternative arguments like Sitchin’s Ancient Astronaut Theory especially if the Denovisan hypothesis is considered.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Hoard of 5,000 Anglo Saxon Coins Worth Over $1.5 M Discovered by Amateur Metal Detectorists

Hoard of 5,000 Anglo Saxon Coins Worth Over $1.5 M Discovered by Amateur Metal Detectorists

A cache of more than Anglo Saxon 5000 coins, including a rare penny, have been discovered, and the find in Buckinghamshire near Lenborough is considered to be the largest haul of coins in modern times.

A hoard of more than Anglo Saxon 5,000 coins have been unearthed (pictured), including what may be a unique coin. The 5,248 coins were found by Paul Coleman on December 21 last year

It includes a uniquely-stamped coin which may be the results of a mix-up at the mint, more than 1,000 years ago. No valuation has officially been placed on the coins, which have formerly been declared as treasure trove, but some experts believe they could be worth more than £1 million.

The 5,248 coins were found by metal detector enthusiast Paul Coleman on December 21 last year. He almost decided not to dig the site when his metal detector beeped, believing he had come across a hidden manhole cover. However, his persistence was rewarded when he found the silver pennies, which were buried in two sets, possibly up to 15 years apart, based upon the dates imprinted on them.

He told a treasure trove inquest in Beaconsfield: ‘I wasn’t going to go [hunting for treasure] but I was talked into it.

Small cross-type penny with a portrait of King Ethelred (not from the newly-discovered hoard)

We looked at the aerial photos and chose a field because there were strange markings. We decided to leave the field because there was nothing in it. When the detector started beeping, it felt like the size of a manhole cover and that’s also what caused me to nearly not dig it up. Anything of that size is normally a manhole cover or a squashed bucket.’

Mr. Coleman, who is 60 and retired, believes it was fate that caused him to wander over to where the hoard was buried. He chose a different route because choosing his Deus detector was receiving interference from one belonging to another member of the Weekend Wanderers metal detecting club.

He first found 985 coins dating from the reign of Ethelred the Unready in the 990s and a further 4,263 that were minted during the reign of his successor, Canute. The coins were taken to the museum in Aylesbury before then being sent to the British Museum for further analysis. 

Brett Thorn, keeper of archaeology at the Buckinghamshire County Museum, told the treasure inquest: ‘Normally hoards are fairly small – 10 to 20 coins, something of that order. 

‘The largest came in the 1840s, containing 7,000 plus silver objects, and one was recorded in the late 90s. This find is the only modern one which is comparable to those.’ 

He believes the coins were buried on the way to a mint in Buckingham five miles (8km) away in order to be melted down and re-cast. New coins were minted every few years, with the holders of old coins having to pay a tax if they tried using them.

The discovery, which was made near Lenborough (marked on this map with a red marker) in Buckinghamshire is said to be the biggest hoard of coins in modern times
The 5,248 coins were found by Paul Coleman on December 21 last year. He almost decided not to dig the site when his metal detector beeped, believing he had come across a hidden manhole cover. He is pictured left with some of the Saxon coins in a clear container, which are pictured in-situ, right

Alternatively, Mr. Thorn said the money could have been the savings of a single-family over the course of 20 years. Despite the age gap between some of the coins, he told the inquest: ‘There’s no doubt they were deposited at the same time.’

He said that one of the coins – an Agnus Dei coin containing a lamb and flag – is possibly unique.

‘It’s a mis-struck coin. The lamb should have on the reverse a dove of peace. This doesn’t; it has a short cross. Someone has made a mistake but it is still good silver. They still sent it out. It makes the coin a rare mistake among a group of unique coins.

Such coins were issued towards the end of Ethelred’s reign and were a plea to God to protect them from the Vikings. Just 30 Agnus Dei coins had ever been discovered and 25 of those were in Scandinavia. There have also been just 30 Saxon coins discovered in the area over the course of 150 years because most of them were taken back with the Vikings.

He first found 985 coins dating from the reign of Ethelred the Unready in the 990s and a further 4,263 that were minted during the reign of his successor, Canute. Here, the coins are shown in situ

Recalling the moment the hoard was brought into the museum, Mr. Thorn said: ‘It was just phenomenal. There was an email about a hoard of 5,000 coins. I thought it was a typo – you don’t get hoards of that scale, ever. I assumed it meant to say 50; even 500 would be exceptionally exciting.

‘It was a massive amount and I couldn’t believe the condition they were in. The ones I looked at initially were in excellent condition. The first thing we did was phone the British Museum and we drove them down to London that day.

‘Word had spread around the department this was coming in and when we arrived everyone was going “is that the hoard?” They were as excited about it as we were. This is a massively significant find, which is why we were really pleased the British Museum said they were happy to let us have it.

‘It’s the most sensible place for it – in Buckinghamshire, where it was found.’ The museum will need to raise a percentage of the coins’ total value in order to put them on display, with an official valuation expected tin the New Year.

Mr. Thorn said analysis of the coins showed they had been minted in 40 different locations around the country. Some of the coins were inscribed with the name Coleman, prompting their finder to say: ‘I joked that the hoard had my name on it – I didn’t realize it literally did.

Mr. Coleman, who lives in Southampton, Hampshire said: ‘The whole thing has been surreal the whole time.’ He has been pursuing his hobby for 50 years and said: ‘I’ve found Roman coins, medieval coins and quite a few medieval broaches, the stuff that keeps you interested.

‘The biggest thrill is when you find the personal things like a brooch that an individual has worn – if only you could read the story that went with it. It’s like holding a bit of history.”

Peter Welch, who runs the Weekend Wanderers club, told the Buckinghamshire coroner: ‘This won’t be repeated. I have never had anything like this in 25 years of running the club.’ Coroner Richard Hulett ruled that the hoard should be counted as treasure after hearing the coins were made of more than 10 percent silver – the minimum level needed to satisfy modern treasure laws.

A lead ‘basket’ which contained the coins – which fell apart during the excavation – was also ruled as treasure after fragments of it were preserved.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Ancient Roman jewelry found beneath the British department store

Ancient Roman jewelry found beneath the British department store

A 2,000-year-old story of terror and devastation has been brought to light during renovation work at an English department store, revealing one of the finest collections of Roman jewelry as well as human remains of people who were slaughtered at the site.

The jewelry had been undisturbed since 61 A.D. in Colchester, some 50 miles northeast of London. It was found in a wooden box and bags under a department store in the town’s high street.

A cache of blingy gold and silver jewelry hidden by a wealthy Roman woman nearly two millennia ago was unearthed recently during a department store site excavation in the historic British town of Colchester.

The treasure, which has been dated to the year 61AD, provides examples of what the best-dressed women of the day were wearing.

Among the items were three gold armlets, a silver armlet, silver chain necklace, two silver bracelets, four gold rings, and two sets of gold earrings. Also found was a bag of Roman coins and a small jewelry box.

Experts from the Colchester Archaeological Trust surmised that the wealthy Roman woman hastily buried her valuables on the floor of her home due to a feared invasion by native Britons.

The military campaign, which ultimately failed to wrest control from the Romans, was to be known as the Boudican Revolt.

Physical evidence, including scorched food items and broken human bones, tells a harrowing story of a home that was burnt to the ground during the violent rebellion.

The treasure, which the Colchester Archaeological Trust is calling the finest discovery of Roman jewelry in British history, would have been lost forever had it not been for excavation work related to the $48 million expansion of the upscale Colchester department store, Williams & Griffin.

The store offers everything from furniture to fashion (Yes, they sell fine jewelry) and is located about 65 miles northeast of London.

“We have been working on the site for six months, and this remarkable Roman jewelry collection was discovered on the third to last day of our dig,” Colchester Archaeological Trust director Philip Crummy told the East Anglian Daily Times.

According to NBC News, the department store’s owner, Fenwick Ltd., is planning to donate the Roman hoard (now called the “Fenwick Treasure”) to the local Colchester Castle Museum. Colchester has the distinction of being the oldest town in Britain.

EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

Nearly 40 Byzantine Shipwrecks Were Recently Unearthed in Turkey

Nearly 40 Byzantine Shipwrecks Were Recently Unearthed in Turkey

Over the past ten years, archeologists in Turkey have been chipping away at a treasure trove of Byzantine shipwrecks. As BBC reports, so far, they’ve uncovered 37 ships at a dig site in Istanbul. The site, Yenikapi, was once a port in bustling Constantinople, and the remnants of the ships found their date from the fifth to 11th century.

Archaeological excavations in Turkey that began in 2004 have yielded a unique historical treasure — 37 shipwrecks from the Byzantine Empire, eight of which are now described in a new report. [8 Byzantine Shipwreck Photos]

The shipwrecks were discovered at a site called Yenikapi, in Istanbul, in what was a port of the ancient city, then called Constantinople. The ships date back to the fifth to 11th centuries, and are in exceptionally good condition, archaeologists say.

“Never before has such a large number and types of well-preserved vessels been found at a single location,” said study author Cemal Pulak, of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University.

The eight shipwrecks highlighted in the new report, which date from the seventh to 10th centuries, show that the shipbuilders at the time were using a more complex process than previously thought, according to the researchers. 

Each of the ships the researchers examined in the report incorporated elements characteristic of two shipbuilding methods. In one method, the shell of a ship was built first, and in the other, the ship’s skeleton was constructed first, and then the planks were attached.

Temporary sheds provide some shelter at the Yenikapı excavation site as the team documents timbers from 37 ships recovered from a lost Byzantine port

The researchers’ analysis showed that a transition from a shell-first to a skeleton-first approach was already well underway by the seventh century.

“It is through meticulous and time-consuming detective work that we slowly begin to understand how these ships were built, modified, overhauled, and used,” Pulak told BBC.

“By such means, we try to understand the minds of the shipbuilders and their design and conceptualization processes, in order to better comprehend the history of science and engineering.”

Of the eight ships that the researchers examined for the report, six were classified as “round ships,” which means that they were propelled primarily or entirely by sail.

The length of the round ships ranged from 26 to 48 feet (8 to 14.7 meters), and they were between 8 and 16 feet (2.5 and 5 m) wide.

The other two ships the researchers examined were galleys — long, oared ships, about 100 feet (30 m) long, and 13 feet (4 m) wide. Among all of the 37 shipwrecks discovered at Yenikapi, there were a total of six Byzantine galleys, “notably the first shipwrecks of this type discovered from the Byzantine period,” the researchers wrote in their report.

Previously, Byzantine galleys were known only from books and artwork dating to the time period, and such sources tend to be difficult to interpret. Therefore the well-preserved remains of these vessels at Yenikapi play a crucial role in archaeologists’ study of Byzantine ships, the researchers said.

The future reveals the past: A subway expansion project in Turkey unearths a lost port and the largest known collection of Byzantine shipwrecks.

Until recently, much of the information about Byzantine ships had come from the several medium-size seagoing ships that had been excavated in the Mediterranean, Pulak said.

“Yenikapi has yielded a wide array of small rowboats, fishing boats, utility vessels, and even naval ships, all directly from Constantinople itself, the capital of the Byzantine Empire,” he added.

A large museum in Istanbul is being planned to exhibit many of the wrecks, Pulak said. But it could take several years to restore the timbers of each ship’s hull, he said.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, NETHERLANDS, WORLD

17th-century Dutch merchant ship off southern England have recovered a 30-foot-long wooden carving of a mustachioed warrior

17th-century Dutch merchant ship off southern England have recovered a 30-foot-long wooden carving of a mustachioed warrior

Archeologists greeted a carving of the face of a moustachio warrior as they lifted part of a huge shipwreck in the 17th century in the English Channel The head was carved into the 28 ft long section of the rudder of a Dutch trading ship that sunk nearly 400 years earlier in Poole, Dorset.

Its accidental discovery by a dredger led to six years of underwater investigations, which prompted experts to hail the find as the most significant since the Mary Rose. Divers found the sizable carving covering the stern and bow castle of the 130ft-long merchant vessel, which would have been one of the largest of its kind on the seas at the time.

It was decked out with opulent carvings of mermen whose eye sockets would have been decorated with precious stones. Other baroque-style carvings, similar to the one on the rudder, were also found on parts of the ship including the gunports.

The head was carved into the 28ft long rudder section of a Dutch trading ship that sunk off Poole, Dorset, nearly 400 years ago

Marine archaeologists from Bournemouth University have already recovered scores of artifacts from the vessel that is known as the Swash Channel Wreck after the area of sea where it sunk.

And after being given a grant of £500,000 from English Heritage, the team completed the recovery of the five-tonne wooden rudder that had become separated from the main hull.

Divers spent seven days digging the rudder from out of the sea bed and placing a large steel frame around it, similar to the operation that raised the Mary Rose in 1982.

Divers (pictured right) found the sizable carving (left) covering the stern and bowcastle of the 130ft long merchant vessel, which would have been one of the largest of its kind on the seas at the time
Marine archaeologists from Bournemouth University have already recovered scores of artefacts from the vessel that is known as the Swash Channel Wreck after the area of sea where it sunk. The black squares indicate the gunport locations

It was then towed four miles into Poole Harbour where today it was hoisted onto the quayside by a crane in front of the excited team of archaeologists.

The baroque facial carving at the end of the rudder shows a military man wearing a classical helmet. It will be constantly sprayed with special chemicals for the next two years to help conserve it.

The rudder will then put on display at Poole Museum alongside other artifacts recovered from the wreckage. Dave Parham, a senior lecturer in marine archaeology at Bournemouth University, said: ‘Before now we had just seen the rudder underwater where you could only make out a few feet of it at a time.

The rudder is being temporarily stored at Poole docks, before being transported to York. It was towed four miles into Poole Harbour where today it was hoisted onto the quayside (pictured) by a crane in front of the excited team of archaeologists

‘So to see it in daylight in all its glory is really quite spectacular.

‘It is a very large and impressive item itself so you can imagine how spectacular this merchant vessel would have looked.

‘Its discovery is an extremely significant one and has given way to one of the largest shipwreck investigations within the UK.’

Another carving previously discovered at the wreck of the Dutch trading ship near Poole, Dorset

Unlike the Mary Rose, little is known of the Swash Channel Wreck, including its identity. Tests on the oak wood from it have dated the felling of the timber to 1628 and from forests on the Dutch/German border. Analysis of some of the recovered artifacts dates to the middle of the 17th century.

This has led the experts to believe the vessel was an armed Dutch trading ship that was either going to or returning from the Mediterranean or the Far East. It is thought it hit a sandbank in the approaches to Poole Harbour and water flooded its bilges. The ship is then believed to have rolled over and sunk in 22ft of water.

Mr. Parham said: ‘It would have been a very big vessel for its day and the whole vessel would have been a spectacular work of art.

It was a sign of prestige and wealth. It was making a statement, showing how great and wonderful the owners were. They would have been a large Dutch conglomerate, similar to the East India Company.

Mr Parham said the ship could be compared to a 17th century version of the luxurious Titanic liner, although the Titanic was ornate for passengers, and not just for those viewing the ship. A carving of a merman is pictured (right) and (wreckage) left

‘It would not have been a million miles from a 17th-century version of the Titanic, although the Titanic was ornate for the passengers and not for those on the outside.

‘We think it was a Dutch trading ship and would have taken high-quality European goods like tweed to the Far East and traded them for things like exotic spices.

It was either going out or coming back when it sank outside of Poole Harbour. We have received a grant to fund the recovery of all the material that is at risk of erosion.

So far the team has brought up artifacts including five baroque carvings, ceramic pieces, leather shoes, copper and pewter plates and cups, and a bronze compass divider. They have also recovered animal bones of sheep and cows that would have fed the crew.

Mr. Parham said: ‘Last month we spent seven days excavating beneath the rudder in order to put strops around it and lift it into a steel frame.

It was then moved four miles to the quayside in Poole and lifted out of the water. We have no idea who the male carving on the rudder might be. It is a mustachioed man with a classical helmet on so it is depicting a military man of some sort. About 40 percent of the port side of the wreck lies intact on the sea bed but it will be too costly an operation to recover that.

EUROPE, UKRAINE, WORLD

A rare Scythian Husband and wife pair burial from around 1,000 BC Such a beautiful Eternal Embrace

A rare Scythian Husband and wife pair burial from around 1,000 BC Such a beautiful, eternal embrace

An ancient man and woman have been found locked in a loving embrace for 3,000 years in a grave in Ukraine. Archaeologists believe the woman was willingly entombed alive in order to accompany her husband to the next world.

The extraordinary burial sees the couple clasped together since the Bronze Age. The pair, from the prehistoric Vysotskaya – or Wysocko – Culture were found near Petrykiv village, south of the city of Ternopil in western Ukraine.

Professor Mykola Bandrivsky – who conducted a study of ‘loving couple burials’ – said: “It is a unique burial, a man and a woman lying there, hugging each other tight.

“Both faces were gazing at each other, their foreheads were touching.

“The woman was lying on her back, with her right arm she was tenderly hugging the man, her wrist lying on his right shoulder.

“The legs of the woman were bent at the knees – lying on the top of the men’s stretched legs.

“Both the dead humans were clad in bronze decorations, and near the heads was placed some pottery items – a bowl, a jar and three bailers.”

This ancient culture was known for the “tenderness” of its burials, said Dr. Bandrivsky, Director of the Transcarpathian branch of the Rescue Archaeological Service of the Institute of Archeology of Ukraine.

Both the dead humans were clad in bronze decorations

But this example is very striking as autopsy experts say it would not be possible to place the woman’s body in such a loving position if she was already dead.

The experts say it is likely the woman chose to die and be buried with her husband and drank poison as she climbed into the grave and embraced her recently dead husband.

In other cases, burials from this culture have revealed “a man holding the hands of a woman, the lips of a man touching the forehead of a woman, or arms of both dead people hugging each other”.

The pair were from the prehistoric Vysotskaya – or Wysocko – Culture

Dr. Bandrovsky – who has carried out an analysis of such burials – said: “From our point of view, this woman did it voluntarily.

“Maybe, the woman did not want to live with some other man and get used to some new way of life.

“So she preferred to pass away with her husband.

“We suppose such a decision was dictated only by her own desire, and her attempt to stay with her beloved one.”

He added: “She may, for example, have drunk a chalice of poison to make joining her husband easy and painless.”

Marriage was well developed in the Vysotskaya Culture, with husbands and wives having clearly defined responsibilities, he said. A tenet of their beliefs was the idea that thew woman preferred to die with her man.

“People in the Late Bronze Age believed in the eternal life of the human soul.”

The renowned Ukrainian archeologist said: “It is interesting that in other parts of Europe dead men and women in couple burials were laid next to each other.

“But in the Vysotskaya culture, the couples in double graves were arranged in a way to demonstrate the tenderness and greatest sympathy towards each other.”

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

900,000-year-old footprints of earliest northern Europeans discovered

900,000-year-old footprints of earliest northern Europeans discovered

Footprints left behind by what may be one of our first human ancestors to arrive in Britain have been discovered on a beach in Norfolk. The preserved tracks, which consisted of 49 imprints in soft sedimentary rock, are believed to be around 900,000 years old and could transform scientists understanding of how early humans moved around the world.

The footprints on Happisburgh beach are possibly those of a family in search of food

The footprints were found in what scientists have described as a “million to one” discovery last summer when heavy seas washed the sand off the foreshore in Happisburgh, Norfolk. The find has only now been made public and is thought to be the oldest evidence of early humans in northern Europe yet to be discovered.

Africa cave men settled in Norfolk Anthropologists and evolutionary biologists from around the UK have been studying the tracks, and believe they may have been related to an extinct form of human ancestor known as Homo antecessor, or “Pioneer Man”.

The tracks include up to five different prints, indicating a group of both adults and children walked across the ancient wet estuary silt. They are the earliest direct evidence of human ancestors in the area and may belong to some of the first ever Britons. Until now the oldest human remains to be found in Europe all come from around the far south of the continent, including stone tools found in southern Italy and a tooth found in Spain.

Skull fragments from that are around 780,000 years old hominid – the term used by scientists for early humans – were also found in southern Spain. Previously the oldest evidence of humans in Britain were a set of stone tools dated to 700,000 years ago from near Lowestoft in Suffolk, although more recently stone tools were also discovered at the site in Happisburgh.

Dr Nick Ashton, curator of the department of prehistory of Europe at the British Museum and an archaeologist at University College London, said: “These are the oldest human footprints outside Africa. It is an extremely rare and lucky discovery.

“The slim chance of surviving in the first place, the sea exposing it in the right way and thirdly us finding it at the right time – I’d say it was a million to one find. “Footprints give you a tangible link that stone tools and even human remains cannot replicate. “We were able to build up a picture of what five individuals were doing on one day. “The Happisburgh site continues to re-write our understanding of the early human occupation of Britain and indeed Europe.”

The discovery was unveiled at the British Museum in London and in the scientific journal PLOS One and will feature in a new exhibition at the Natural History Museum. There are only three other sites in the world that have older footprints, all of which are in Africa – a set is 3.5 million years old in Tanzania and some that are 1.5 million years old in Kenya. The Happisburgh prints were uncovered at low tide after stormy seas removed large amounts of sand from the beach to reveal a series of elongated hollows in the compacted ancient silt.

The prints were first noticed when a low tide uncovered them
The sea has now washed away the prints – but not before they were recorded

Scientists removed the remaining sand and sponged off the seawater before taking 3D scans and images of the surface. In some cases, researchers were able to identify heel marks, foot arches, and even toes from the prints. They found prints equivalent to up to a UK shoe size eight. They also estimate that the individuals who left the prints ranged from around two feet 11 inches tall to five feet eight inches tall. At least two or three of the group were thought to be children and one was possibly an adult male.

Dr Isabelle De Groote, an anthropologist at Liverpool John Moores University who studied the prints, said: “We have identified at least five individuals here.

“It is likely they were somehow related, and if they were not direct family members they will have belonged to the same family group. “The footprints were fairly close together so we think they were walking rather than running. Most were directly alongside the river in a southerly direction but also there were some going in all different directions like they were pottering around.

“If you imagine walking along a beach now with children then they would be running around.”

Unfortunately the prints themselves were quickly eroded away by the sea and have now been lost. Happisburgh is one of the fastest eroding parts of the British coastline. The Environment Agency and local authority decided some years ago to abandon maintenance of the sea defences there as it was no longer considered to be cost effective.

Scientists hope, however, that as further parts of the coastline are eroded more evidence of human activity and perhaps more footprints will be uncovered. From their analysis of the prints, researchers believe the group was probably heading in a southerly direction over what would at the time have been an estuary surrounded by salt marsh and coniferous forest.

At the time Britain was connected to continental Europe by land and the site at Happisburgh would have been on the banks of a wide estuary several miles from the coast. The estuary itself would have provided a rich array of plants, seaweed and shellfish. Fossils of mammoth, an extinct kind of horse and early forms of voles have also been found at the site Happisburgh.

The early humans could also have hunted or scavenged the grazing herds for meat. The discovery of the footprints is particularly significant as there are few surviving tracks of human ancestors elsewhere in the world. Scientists can glean large amounts of information about our ancestors, including the size of the groups they travelled in, how they walked, their size and weight.

The prints were discovered in deposits that have also revealed stone tools and fossilized bones dating to between 800,000 and one million years ago. Dr. Simon Lewis, a geoarchaeologist at the Queen Mary University of London, said: “Although we knew the sediments were old, we had to be certain that the hollows were also ancient and hadn’t been created recently.

There are no known erosional processes that create that pattern. In addition, the sediments are too complicated for the hollows to have been made recently.” Early primitive human ancestors first began to appear in Africa around 4.4 million years ago and are thought to have only left the continent around 1.8 million years ago and are not thought to have arrived in Europe until around 1 million years ago. Extinct species such as the Neanderthals appeared first appeared between 400,000 and 600,000 years ago, while modern humans – Homo sapiens – first began to emerge from Africa around 125,000 years ago but did not arrive in Europe until around 40,000 years ago.

It is thought that the footprints may have belonged to a relative of a Homo antecessor – an extinct hominid species that may have been a common ancestor to both modern humans and Neanderthals, although such theories are still highly disputed.

Remains from Homo antecessor were discovered in the Atapuerca Mountains in Spain. Professor Chris Stringer, an eminent anthropologist at the Natural History Museum in London who worked with the team, said: “The humans who made the Happisburgh footprints may well have been related to the people of similar antiquity from Atapuerca in Spain, assigned to the species Homo antecessor.

“These people were of a similar height to ourselves and were fully bipedal. They seem to have become extinct in Europe by 600,000 years ago and were perhaps replaced by the species Homo heidelbergensis.

“Neanderthals followed from about 400,000 years ago and eventually modern humans some 40,000 years ago.”

EUROPE, ICELAND, WORLD

Archaeologists have unearthed what may be the oldest Viking settlement in Iceland

Archaeologists have unearthed what may be the oldest Viking settlement in Iceland

It is thought that the ancient longhouse was built in the 800s, decades before seafaring refugees had settled the island and was hidden beneath a younger longhouse,  brimming with treasures, said archaeologist Bjarni Einarsson, who led the excavations.

The youngest of the two longhouses contained the most valuable horde of objects ever found in Iceland and was probably the hall of a Viking chieftain.
The oldest of the two Viking longhouses at Stöð dates from around A.D. 800, several decades before the commonly accepted date of the settlement of Iceland in A.D. 874.

“So far the richest is the youngest hall in Iceland,” Einarsson told BBC. “It is impossible not to conclude that it is a chieftain’s house.”

Communal houses

The massive buildings, up to 75 meters long and 20 feet (6 meters) tall, lined with turf and thatch and were used as communal habitations throughout the Norse lands during the Viking Age.

They were divided into rooms and could be shared by several families. Fires were built in stone hearths along the center, and farm animals could be stabled there to protect them from cold.

Both longhouses were found at Stöð, near the village and fjord of Stöðvarfjörður in the east of Iceland. The younger structure dates to around A.D. 874 — the commonly accepted date for Iceland’s settlement by people, who, according to Icelandic lore, were escaping the Norwegian king Harald Fairhair. It contains one of the most valuable hoards of ornamental beads, silver and ancient coins ever found in Scandinavia, Einarsson said.

Among the finds: Roman and Middle Eastern silver coins, and “hacksilver,” which are cut and bent pieces of silver used as bullion or currency by the Vikings and other ancient peoples.

The excavations of the 130 foot-long (40 m) hall have also unearthed decorative glass beads, rings, weights, and a tiny fragment of gold, Einarsson said.

The inhabitants likely acquired these goods by trading local resources, such as the skins and meat from whales and seals, which were prized throughout Viking Scandinavia.

As well as Roman and Middle Eastern coins and pieces of silver, the excavations unearthed many decorative glass beads and a large sandstone bead that was probably used for trading.

Atlantic expansion

Hidden beneath the treasure-filled longhouse was an even older structure. Chemical and other analyses suggest this buried longhouse was built in the 800s, long before the permanent settlement of Iceland, Einarsson said.

He thinks it was a seasonal settlement or camp, occupied only during the summer and maybe into the fall, by workers in the area.

Although walruses were not found in eastern Iceland, the local resources that could be eaten, preserved, or traded could have included produce from fish, whales, seals, and birds, he said.

The archaeologists have also found artifacts from the everyday life of the settlement, including several spindle whorls made of local sandstone that was used for spinning fibers into thread or twine.

The archaeologists have also found artifacts from the everyday life of the settlement, including several spindle whorls made of local sandstone that was used for spinning fibers into thread or twine.

Parts of the older building investigated so far show it was one of the largest longhouses ever found in Iceland.

“We know that the westernmost part of the older hall was a smithy [for working with metal] — the only smithy within a hall known in Iceland,” Einarsson said.

The seasonal camp at Stöð was similar in scale and function to the Viking settlement discovered at L’Anse aux Meadows, in what is now Newfoundland in Canada, which has been dated to around A.D. 1000, he said.

“This was a pattern of the settlement of the islands in the Atlantic Ocean,” Einarsson said. “First, we had the seasonal camps, and then the settlement followed.”

Einarsson has directed a private archaeological firm for more than 20 years, and from 2009 excavated a Viking Age settlement at Vogur, on Iceland’s west coast, which depended on hunting walruses for their ivory, skins, and meat.

He discovered the longhouse ruins at Stöð in 2007 and began excavations at the site in 2015. The project is paid for by Iceland’s Archaeological Fund, the region’s municipal government, companies, and local people.