It raises the question of how the Homs
got out to Britain from the mainland.
And since their feet in ancient time
Did tramp on England's muddy shore,
What vessel had those Hominim
To carry them the Channel o'er?This was on the order of a MILLION YEARS AGO. It's pretty far to swim, and I would think that to get successfully started in a new place you'd need to bring a few implements along with you.
Did Hominims a 0.8 million years ago have BOATS?
BTW the article has a lot of diagrams, maps, photographs. It looks like they found footprints of a range of sizes, from a number of individuals of different ages. What happened to preserve the prints seems fairly well understood. They found 49 footprints in all over an extended mud-flat area roughly 2 meters by 6 meters.
There's a clear direction---the multi-age group of Homs were walking south.
Here's the link again, and a bit of the abstract summary. Footprint and other finds in Africa and elsewhere are described.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Ad ... ne.0088329===quote===
Hominin Footprints from Early Pleistocene Deposits at Happisburgh, UKNick Ashton et al
Summary:
Investigations at Happisburgh, UK, have revealed the oldest known hominin footprint surface outside Africa at between ca. 1 million and 0.78 million years ago. The site has long been recognised for the preservation of sediments containing Early Pleistocene fauna and flora, but
since 2005 has also yielded humanly made flint artefacts, extending the record of human occupation of northern Europe by at least 350,000 years. The sediments consist of sands, gravels and laminated silts laid down by a large river within the upper reaches of its estuary. In May 2013 extensive areas of the laminated sediments were exposed on the foreshore. On the surface of one of the laminated silt horizons a series of hollows was revealed in an area of ca. 12 m
2…
...In many cases the arch and front/back of the foot can be identified and in one case the impression of toes can be seen. Using foot length to stature ratios, the hominins are estimated to have been between ca. 0.93 and 1.73 m in height, suggestive of a group of mixed ages. The orientation of the prints indicates movement in a southerly direction on mud-flats along the river edge…
==endquote==
Happily enough they took 3D photos and preserved a
digitized 3D record of the exposed surface with the prints. So in that sense there is an exact permanent record of the Hominin footprints.
It was William Blake who asked:
"And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?"
in the same poem where he declared:
"…
Bring me my Bow of burning gold:
Bring me my arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!
I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In Englands green & pleasant Land."