The Incredible Discovery of the Oldest Footprints Outside of Africa

Britain is an island where history is well and truly part of the landscape and an island where human feet have walked for a million years. We are constantly making groundbreaking archaeological discoveries that are helping us to better understand the way in which our distant ancestors lived.

Join bushcraft and survival expert Ray Mears in the first episode of a new series as he explores Britain's distant past, from the earliest evidence of people in Britain, right up to the moment that everything would change.

In the first episode of this series, Ray speaks to Dr David Waterhouse about the discovery made at Happisburgh beach in Norfolk of footprints dating back 900,000 years. The Happisburgh footprints were a set of fossilised hominid footprints that date to the early Pleistocene. They were discovered in May 2013 in a newly uncovered sediment layer of the Cromer Forest Bed on a beach at Happisburgh in Norfolk, England, and carefully photographed in 3D before being destroyed by the tide shortly afterwards. Research results on the footprints were announced on 7 February 2014, identifying them as the oldest known hominid footprints outside Africa.

Ray then demonstrates how our distant ancestors would have made and used flint tools for hunting and skinning game.

DISCLAIMER: THIS FILM CONTAINS SOME GRAPHIC CONTENT. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free exclusive podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsely, Mary Beard and more. Watch, listen and read history wherever you are, whenever you want it. Available on all devices: Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Roku, Xbox, Chromecast, and iOs & Android.

We're offering a special discount to History Hit for our subscribers, get 50% off your first 3 months with code YOUTUBE: http://www.access.historyhit.com/

#historyhit #raymears #ancientbritain #earlyhumans