Understanding the lives of ancient Britons
Posted on 7 October 2009
A technique developed at the University known as amino acid geochronology will be used to date archaeological sites over longer timescales than has previously been possible.
In the earlier phases of the AHOB project we were able to show that North-West Europe was occupied by humans at least 150,000 years earlier than had been thought
Dr Kirsty Penkman
The research is part of phase three of the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain project launched today with the support of £1.1m from The Leverhulme Trust.
Dr Kirsty Penkman, from the Department of Chemistry and a member of the University’s BioArCh research group, is a principal collaborator on the project which involves scientists from the Natural History Museum, the British Museum and eight universities.
She said: “In the earlier phases of the AHOB project we were able to show that North-West Europe was occupied by humans at least 150,000 years earlier than had been thought, as well as providing further evidence that humans were absent from Britain during the last interglacial period 125,000 years ago, despite optimum climatic conditions.
“In phase three it will be exciting to apply these techniques to archaeological sites even further back in time, as well as to refine the chronology of younger sites.“
AHOB began in October 2001 and has made a series of groundbreaking discoveries dating human occupation of Britain back as far as 700,000 years. The next phase will see new sites along the Suffolk and Norfolk coasts investigated for evidence of the first human pioneers to reach northern Europe. Further sites discovered beneath the North Sea should provide evidence for ancient human activity from a time when the area was a broad plain connecting Britain to north-west Europe.
Dr Chris Stringer, Natural History Museum Palaeontologist and AHOB Director, said: “It is fantastic news that The Leverhulme Trust are continuing to fund AHOB. We will continue to work in East Anglia looking for evidence of even older occupation than that at Pakefield, near Lowestoft, where we have found evidence of the oldest known Britons. Hopefully we’ll find out even more about Britain’s earliest colonisers, and possibly even their fossil remains.”
Sir Richard Brook, director of The Leverhulme Trust, said: “The dramatic progress that has been made in the understanding of human migrations to and from Britain in ancient times has made consideration of the wider European stage a fascinating prospect for future research exploration. The Leverhulme Trustees are delighted to support the undertaking of this next step in the journey.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- Find out more about AHOB at www.ahobproject.org.
- The full announcement of the launch of AHOB3 can be found at http://bit.ly/7NZqz.
- BioArCh is a joint venture between the Departments of Biology, Archaeology and Chemistry at the University of York. All three were rated among the top ten for research in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise. The concept behind BioArCh is to provide archaeologists with access to full supported analytical facilities. The BioArCh building houses its own laboratories for research and teaching, with analytical work conducted using facilities housed in the state of the art Technology Facility and the Chemistry department.
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