The Incredible Discovery of the Oldest Footprints Outside of Africa | Ancient Britain with Ray Mears

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.
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#historyhit #raymears #ancientbritain #earlyhumans

[@MarkLasater]

A few years ago, a bridge was replaced about 500 yards from my home. In the excavation they found several hearths with burtn corn kernels scattered around them, The kernels dated to about 4500 NC. I too am blown away as I walk the fields around my home, the corn fields. That 6000 years ago, people were doing much the same as me.

[@mfhex1398]

Thanks for the graphic content warning. Seeing British people can be quite upsetting.

[@Ithinkthereforeiam-ph9nb]

[@mohairsam9705]

lol..😅😅😅

[@dianetersigni7359]

😂😂😂

[@sue-ellen4721]

Ha ha!

[@user-ce6uq3dn9o]

😂

[@geoffreybudge3027]

Great to see Ray Mears again .❤

[@17losttrout]

I remember being on a Norfolk beach with my father in the early-mid 70's and finding a lot of footprints exactly like that and asking about them. At the time my dad thought that they'd somehow been made by children - although they were in that same solid, silt-like, oily/waxy sediment. It always stayed with me. If only we'd known. He'd have been fascinated.

[@kayb9979]

If you remember where you saw them you could go back to see if they are still there.

[@17losttrout]

@@kayb9979 I'd assume they were slowly eroding. It may well be that they were in more or less the same place.

[@cardroid8615]

Ray mears is amazing at telling the story of our ancestral homeland. Man i used to love his programmes when i was a young man.

[@ibrstellar1080]

Ray Mears and Neil Oliver are my favourites as far as making history interesting go.

[@cardroid8615]

@@ibrstellar1080 💯. Both passionate about Britain.

[@geoffreybudge3027]

👍🇺🇸

[@j.harbottle8928]

Good ol Ray Mears ! love anything he does, so professional

[@bradlcnm]

It will be cool to see what more underwater exploration will yield at Doggerland.

[@badfairy9554]

I watched 'Ghosts' last night and the caveman talked about walking to England because of Doggerland.

[@jamesrussell7760]

Absolutely. Perhaps a stone circle or the remains of a wood and wicker hut.

[@badfairy9554]

hi@@jamesrussell7760that would be awesome. plus that can be done now without divers.

[@ricmay2837]

Dump the million years …this SCFI border science..has no real evidence..no real dates …This is a sheer fantasy…. HUMAN GLOBAL HISTORY starts under less than 6000 years ago … we see the speed of animals going extinct..erosion …and humans document themselves… I’m not interested in Fake Border Science Bless the accurate dates …. Which are not a million dollars …

[@Gribbo9999]

Is that the Doggerland round the back of ASDA?

[@estherlwhittle7568]

What always annoys me is they assume that ancient people never combed their hair. Evidence indicates that Neanderthals wore feathers in their hair, invented tattoos, and seashell & bone jewelry. As well as inventing glue, sailing & rope. Maybe weaving. Loom weights are a conundrom to non-crafting archaeologists. They also made sheep/goat leg bone flutes still used today by shepards in Europe.

[@helenamcginty4920]

One of my pet hates as well. Hippy style re enactors with mud smeared all over themselves. Ancient peoples tended to live near water for goodness sake.

[@Ithinkthereforeiam-ph9nb]

bravo! exactly! same here! It always makes me sad to see modern "idiots" portray our ancestors as such, when the initial behavior of any primate is grooming! I bet you even the Homo Erectus braided and styled their hair.

[@qed456]

very special to have a gentlemen of the calibre and gravitas of Ray Mears

[@mindoablues]

I'm so happy to see more pre-history videos! This is such a thoughtful look at Britain's past.

[@seraphale]

Same. The "disturbing content" was my massive nerd boner.😄

[@forestranger312]

You have no idea just how upsetting footprints can be.

[@LeoniFermer-vi4dc]

🤭

[@lewisg7614]

I have every idea just how angry footprints can make people, as a ten year old my friends and I played on a building site with fresh layed concrete floors, turns out footprints in a new floors really really upsets people...

[@marniekilbourne608]

How is any of this content disturbing in any way?

[@mrquirky3626]

From what I've heard, the British weather shown here can be quite depressing.

[@mutiny_on_the_bounty]

Furthermore, it dosen't depict black Africans as the indigenous peoples of Britain.

[@MatroX67]

a redhead appears in the first three minutes

[@redspecial4102]

I got the KZbin alert on my phone at 4 a.m. ...my sleep was disturbed by this content.

[@pirththee]

The Evangelicals believe the Earth is only 6000 years old.

[@thelostone6981]

I can only image Ray Mears and Phil Harding sitting around talking about and making flint tools.

[@stephanieyee9784]

I immediately thought of Phil saying ooh aah as he struck off a nice sliver of flint. I Love Phil Harding. ❤️

[@magdahearne497]

I'd pay good money to sit & watch that conversation, over a pint of course :) Love Phil & Ray, I always learn so much from both of them.

[@michellerenner6880]

Oh I’ve been looking for this series again…. He has an amazing way to present the timeline…

[@DipityS]

I love when people are able to give us some feel of the deep past - like this fellow walking along the beach - very well done. I also think he's so right - those stone axes are inherently pleasing to look at and a body wants to hold one in their hands 😊

[@snufkinhollow318]

This is the channel that just keeps on giving and their latest gift is among my favourites - the fabulous Ray Mears. I am researching this very subject, specifically Happisburgh and Boxgrove at the moment and that great discussion between Ray and David Waterhouse has really helped me. Not entirely related but I also feel I have to mention what a great name Peter Squirrel is - I knew a family of Badgers once! Thank you History Hit for finding such a magic combination of passionate presenters/specialists and giving them to us in such engaging content.

[@limehead4700]

If you walk around Hertfordshire you occasionally come upon a whole field of flint, without having to dig. I used them a few years ago to repair my flint wall.

[@susannjarvis5587]

Amazing. And mind boggling when trying to come to grips with the time frames. Wow. And thank you.

[@lorenstribling6096]

I love the videos with Ray Mears. He is knowledgeable and professional and you can tell that he really enjoys teaching.

[@jamesruddy9264]

Thanks for the warning at the beginning about upsetting footage. I almost fainted when he was flint knapping for fear he would cut himself! Other than that it was a good video.

[@bigred8438]

WARNING...This video contains footprints.

[@davidareeves]

Introducing Footprints in the Sand, the rhetorical version and introduction of visions in Briton

[@alexadey3413]

Excellent program brought to life by Rays experience with indigenous people and their daily struggles.

[@DarrenMalin]

you do know that we Britons are the indigenous people of these islands right ?

[@alexadey3413]

@@DarrenMalin I think you will find that the original inhabitants were wiped out by successive waves of immigrants and the English channel is only since the end of the last ice age so there wasn't a barrier.

[@errolmargiela1261]

@@alexadey3413yeah and the original inhabits wiped out Neanderthal. The animal kingdom has never known peace. What’s your point?

[@alexadey3413]

@@errolmargiela1261 I guess it's one of hybridisation... between the groups before extinction took place....

[@liamredmill9134]

Also the flint of Norfolk can be particularly colourful,which is extremely rare in England.sometimes this is to do with additions of element's that brackish waters deposited through the soils, tens of millions of years ago,sometimes bright red and blue fossil sponges can be found,which is to do with preservation in fine silts that had additional organic matter like drift wood or rotten carcasses that were laid together on the sea floor tens of millions of years ago,leaching additional element's between the Calcite and silicon matrix

[@cardroid8615]

I need more of Ray mears! Proper Englishman

[@LeoniFermer-vi4dc]

Love anything Ray does! The go to man in how to survive The Apocalypse!!

[@PALM311]

I love the disclaimer! Lol trust me anybody that would get upset over this is the type of person that chooses to get upset and wants to be upset. I understand why the disclaimer, but the whole very thought of it is just ridiculous in all honesty. Great video, very insightful .

[@52daytripper]

what do you understand about the disclaimer? I think it is either stupid or maybe facetious, because nothing is upsetting or disturbing in the vid

[@colinharbinson8284]

@@52daytripper Agreed, i'm still scratching my head in bemusement.

[@chrisg1234fly]

@@52daytripper I find the way he is destroying that stone upsetting!!!! Inflicting pain and emotional damage on the poor flint. Dont you realised non-binary flints have feelings too and that one identified as a penguin on tuesdays.

[@edwardfletcher7790]

Ray Mears for the Win 👍😆 Really UNHAPPY about the last few minutes being cut off !!!

[@Squarepeg57]

Ray Mears is an amazing documentary presenter.

[@PaulArtman]

I used to be a "HH" subscriber, and have seen the series Meares narrates. And it is well worth the subscription by itself. Well worth your time. And no I won't get ANY consideration for this comment. Blessings.

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

A wonderful historical coverage video about Ancient British Ancestors from 900,000 BCE (Homo antecessor ) to 500 .000 ( Homo Heidelbergensis ) .thank you respectful (History Hit) channel for sharing this incredible video

[@jimjenke3661]

I love the stonework demonstrations-It shows how in a very exact manner. Thank you

[@Russia-bullies]

Ray Mears making flint reminded me of Time Team’s Phil Harding.Why wasn’t he featured?

[@Royboy50]

Ray mears is brilliant he never makes anything other than enlightening

[@davidroman1342]

Absolutely fantastic show. Even 1 million years ago we still had time to go to the seaside. Lol 😂 Ray mears is great. Ty 👍.

[@edwardfletcher7790]

When the footprints were made, depending on the ice age cycle, it's likely there was no sea there, it was plains & marsh land ! Google "Doggerland" & "the Europe that was" map.

[@harrybond1485]

They probably had more spare time then we do today.

[@glendamears3618]

A Great program I love it 😊 the flint sounds glassy.

[@davidhaysom2446]

Ray is the best, he really makes that bear grills look like a school boy!

[@CH-qw8gb]

they are totally different in background experience. Bear was in the SAS and suffered a broken back in a parachuter jump

[@TheVicar]

@@CH-qw8gb An action man who can't stop being an Action Man ™ Out there in the wild Mears is the one to follow, whereas Grills is the ego entertainer

[@Damageab]

Ray years and les stroud are the dogs!

[@prairrie]

Top man in the wilderness and survival ...amazing skills and knowledge .

[@alexbooyse9053]

We love Uncle Ray.

[@tubularap]

A pity that the episodes of this series is not numbered. I like to watch in the order that they were intended.

[@DaveMoth]

Really good. Needed a few more minutes showing Ray finishing off the flint knife. Is this the entire thing, or an abridged upload?

[@jamesrussell7760]

What is amazing is that the incoming tide would fill those 800,000 year old footprints with a layer of sand without erasing the foot prints in the mud. The chances of that happening must be incredibly rare. We have all walked along a beach leaving foot prints, then looked behind us to see the wash of a wave erasing those prints. But then it's further amazing that the scientists could find them the better part of a million years later along a beach kilometers in length!

[@kevinroche3334]

It probably wasn't a beach a million years ago as the sea would have been far away at that time. The sea only began eroding the shoreline in recent years. In fact, this area was probably joined directly to the European mainland at that time.

[@jamesrussell7760]

@@kevinroche3334 So, that part of Britain extended onto Doggerland a million years ago. The footprints were made in mud, so the climate was very wet, or there were marshy areas. Then in recent times the sea level raised, flooding Doggerland. What is incredibly fortuitous is that the footprints were found before the sea completely erased them.

[@kevinroche3334]

@@jamesrussell7760 true-amazing-and then gone on the link of an eye.

[@montyklaus7223]

I love the way thy toss around the word millions like thy know

[@myriaddsystems]

Hurray it's RAY! We haven't seen him for years

[@laurieleannie]

I think it should be a rule that anytime they find a flint artifact, they have to make sure that Phil Harding was never there on holiday!

[@garywse7]

I have got a rock that has a footprint in it that my 9 year old grandson's foot fits perfectly. It's been dated to be from the carboniferous period by the Natural history museum.

[@Arkantos117]

Love Ray Mears but what the hell was the warning about?

[@Chilly_Billy]

The mannequin pee pee shot.

[@helenamcginty4920]

​@@Chilly_Billyno! Surely not!

[@beeftec5862]

Back in my day they pixelated that obscenity lol@@helenamcginty4920

[@margaretflounders8510]

Dunno unless those who can't believe in millions of years have passed instead of the 6,000 that some think..

[@NotfromDateline]

16,000 generations, AMAZING!

[@Thebonesoftrees]

This is incredible.

[@Toglos]

Fantastic.

[@eddieboy4667]

Love it thank you.

[@jameshargan2786]

How far from the sea was that location 900k yrs ago? I don’t think they were walking along a beach then. Was that the period when doggerland was above water?

[@mrbaab5932]

It depends if at that time in was an Ice Age or a warm period like now.

[@frontenac5083]

*2 minutes and 30 seconds into the video and I've yet to find any of the footage upsetting. But there's still plenty of time for that to arrive! I'll let you know as soon as I'm upset, I promise.*

[@bailey2913]

He talks about it like they were on a beach at the time all those years ago, when they’d of likely been no where near the coast a million years ago.

[@roonilwazlib3089]

🤦🏼‍♀️

[@lee4171]

Ray Mears. Real bloke.

[@ronpearson998]

Interestingly, people were not stupid to our way of thinking. They were surviving. They made us what we are. Without them, we would not be here today.

[@eileenlocke7877]

Wow interesting thank u

[@xxsparrowxx8568]

Wish we’d been able to preserve these footprints…

[@frontenac5083]

*WARNING! This video contains bad grammar some viewers may find upsetting (**4:44**).*

[@undeaddread]

Just an observation, circa 8-950,000 years ago the north sea & English channel didn't exist so they wouldn't have been forraging for shellfish

[@brusselssprouts560]

Surely 800,000 years ago the coastline would have been much futrher away than today?

[@TheVicar]

I live 5 miles away from where the coastline used to be in the distant past. The coastline is now 35 miles away, yet below me is sandstone Sea levels change over time and the global relative surface level of land masses rising and falling due to ice age downward pressure/release as well as the constant tectonic lateral motion combined with upheaval/subsidence This means that where you stand the coastline can come and go over time, many times

[@davidareeves]

Loved the flint construction shown, thanks. I just imagine some worker creating those shards of flint, being tired and cutting oneself making a blade-like sheath of flint. We have it so easy today

[@samuelhowie4543]

They would use a piece of tanned hide to hold the piece of flint once it got down to the size they wanted. Then they would switch to using a piece of bone or antler/horn to put the finished edge on it.

[@caroldelaney4700]

The disturbing thing is the need to warn us about ancient historical fact. The only thing I can’t understand is that the tide is exactly the same judging by the footprints that were found.

[@chrisg1234fly]

didnt you find the way the tide came in and out upsetting? I believe we should make the tide coming in and out illegal!!!

[@virgo714]

So this breaks many generations of our ancient history that were thought back in the early 2000s. I remember man showed up around 10,000 years ago

[@markwhite7437]

Facts. They suck sometimes. For some people.

[@crishill6458]

Its incredible, different age in time, similar challenges in life just different predators

[@RyanKeane9]

Incredible, yet perfectly credible.

[@eileenlocke7877]

Wow thank u 🙏

[@AbAb-th5qe]

Interesting to see how as Ray says the footprints didn't have splayed toes, which means they regularly wore footwear right? Although the footprints themselves were barefoot. I guess they took off their shoes to walk on the beach even a million years ago. I wouldn't want bare feet in the british countryside either. It'd be quite cold. Homo Anticecil wouldn't have been naked like the model day to day I suppose.

[@stephanieyee9784]

Homo Anticecil! Hahaha, Homo Antecessor.

[@pitchforkcustom]

amusing but dull. not actually amusing.

[@AbAb-th5qe]

​​​​​@@stephanieyee9784 lol. Whoops, I misheard :S I'd never heard the name before. It's a mildly amusing mistake.

[@Vandal_Savage]

Auntie Cecil? Perhaps you mean antecessor? 😄

[@AbAb-th5qe]

@@Vandal_Savage Yeah, yeah. I said the wrong thing 😛😅😆

[@christopherellis2663]

The shape was functional. One had a scraper, slicer, and borer, all in one handy tool.

[@qed456]

Little that Alan Partridge know when on his Norfolk walks he was walking in the footsteps of his ancestors

[@markkilley2683]

Migrated across a land bridge, back in the day? I didn't know how flint was formed, now I do.

[@marlbankian]

Interesting

[@TheebayOffroader]

There's a lot more out of Africa (and everywhere else) footprints on that beach now.

[@myownprivateglasgow280]

'You' are the very embodiment of time and of 'history'... If u want to know the past, the ancient, the primordial, look inside yourself.

[@Joe90V]

I've never had an answer from a video editor as to why they decide to play music over the top of someone talking.

[@suesmith9202]

Subscribed

[@charityrocks]

Very interesting. They are from before the continental drift?

[@ericgibson2079]

Read a book called Uriels Time Machine. It's ancient Briton with the Stone Ware Culture. It has a calander thing, one found there, another in Central America.

[@stephanieyee9784]

Thanks for the referral. I'm going to look it up.

[@lindahouston5635]

Just like a family of today taking the kiddos to the beach! 😅 Well, maybe not exactly like that, but close.

[@DanGoodShotHD]

The only disturbing part of this video is the content warning. Lol

[@frontenac5083]

*5:46** "...taller than me." Correct! Good grammar.*

[@robertmastnak581]

Very interesting fakts about their life, enviroment about 900.000years ago.

[@kusheran]

How quickly the footprints washed away! Lucky!

[@wordscapes5690]

Modern interpretations of events so very long ago, are guided by our own, modern human ethics, societies, sentiments and social norms. For all we know, this “family” might have been chasing someone’s “children” across the beach as the main course for the sunset barbecue.

[@GodAtum]

surely 800,000 years ago it wasn't shoreline??

[@mothball5425]

Does anyone know where i can see the rest of the series?

[@hopefulfortomorrow1039]

Are you a Brit?

[@robinculley260]

Surely it wasn't a sea shore at the time these footprints were created? It would have been land far from the sea. Thats how they were preserved in the mud/silt .

[@jamesdecross1035]

Do let us know when these clips were first broadcast. Thanks.

[@HistoryHit]

These clips are from the trailers released by Sony Pictures Entertainment

[@sailingmrnice]

Flint cutting was done in water. It's how we developed prune-like fingers in water.

[@ThisOLmaan]

4:55 Character from SunkenLand

[@borismuller86]

Looks like Karl Pilkington

[@macgregordespitethem]

Loved this....Flint knapping.. and always learning...like a musical instrument ? learning the skill

[@DJL78]

What is the purpose of the fencing running the length of the beach?

[@natalieeis9284]

It's old coastal defence, I think, to stop the cliffs eroding.

[@stephenskinner3851]

At around 800,000 to 900,000 years ago there was an inter-glacial warm period. It has only been during these short and infrequent warm periods do humans come up onto the British land.

[@michaelbutler1557]

I like Rays documentaries Beth much but how can you describe the ‘wildness’ of a beach with human fencing structures along it.

[@frontenac5083]

*9:10** 2nd GRAMMAR TRIGGER WARNING! I see a person like you or ME! (Not "You and I"!)*

[@stevestannard6004]

Yeah so many presenters have bad grammar nowadays it's ridiculous.

[@hoofhearted5069]

A friend who is a bait digger found a mammoth tooth fossil near to where this was filmed

[@lisahodges8299]

I love next door to a stone age quarry and often find stone age hammers, I have one that was used by a left handed person. Birdy

[@TracyD2]

Nice. Everything is destroyed where I live and nothing is stopping them to destroy even more.

[@oo0Spyder0oo]

How do they know when that flint was made into an axe when the flint itself is so old but could have been broken off or modelled into an axe as early as 1000 years ago or such?

[@harrybond1485]

They know by dating the context that holds it.

[@oo0Spyder0oo]

@@harrybond1485 I get that if it was part of an axe, so you have the wooden handle or some fixings to go with it, but the actual flint found on its own? I mean we look at rocks around us knowing they may have been there for thousand or millions of years, if someone had chipped a piece off one and left it lying there it would be the same age of the rock it came from. When someone picks it up and actually uses it to cut open a fish, could be anytime in its history. Just curious.

[@banksarenotyourfriends]

You date the layer of the sediment that it was found in, rather than dating the flint itself.

[@motuekarewaka5145]

So what is upsetting about our history? What is to be ashamed off?

[@roonilwazlib3089]

Lack of melanin, blue eyes, actual history... you name it.

[@gijbuis]

The video starts with a warning that it contains content which some viewers may find distressing? Is that just clickbait? What could be distressing about finding footprints of an early hominin? Or are you referring to 'creationists' who could be upset by evidence of evolution?

[@telebubba5527]

If you believe that the earth is only 6000 years old, then 900.000 years old is quite distressing I would think.

[@t-dog8528]

Nah some activist in Australia wants an apology because they "might be related"

[@harrybond1485]

Look at how Robinson Curuso felt when he found a footprint on the beach.

[@franklopez2969]

What are the wooden structures on the surf?