Early settlers to Britain

The question of when Britain was first settled by humans has been the subject of ongoing debate and research for many years.   Exciting new discoveries have changed the assumptions of experts leading them to conclude that Britain was possibly settled much earlier than had previously been thought.

Along the coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk ongoing investigations into an extraordinary cluster of Palaeolithic sites has revealed evidence of human activity going back to around 900,000 years.  This is nearly double the earlier estimates and new research is beginning to shed new light on these early settlers.

 

Happisburgh during the Early Pleistocene - by Philg88  - CC BY 4.0

The peninsula of Britain

Although Britain is famous for being an island today it has not always been one.  In fact until about 8,500 years ago it was a part of a wide peninsula jutting out of the north-west of Europe.  During this time migrating animals and humans had easy access to it. Even so, it was not an easy place for humans to settle.  At that time the local climate swung from being warm and Mediterranean-like to cold polar conditions.  Warm periods when humans could gain a foothold on the peninsula were followed by ice ages that forced them off.  There were 8 - 9 periods of warmth where humans settled on the peninsula but each period was followed by an ice age which forced them to abandon it.  About 12,500 years ago the ice finally receded and waves of pioneering settlers moved onto the peninsula establishing permanent.  Read more