Ancient human footprints discovered on the Welsh coastline are 7,000 years old and could show a snapshot of a Mesolithic hunting party, researchers have said.
Discovered in 2014, the five prehistoric footprints of both children and adults at Port Eynon on the Gower Peninsula, South Wales, were initially thought to date to the Bronze Age.
But a new study carried out at Cardiff University has revealed they are actually 3,000 years older than that...
The 7,000-year-old hunting ground: Ancient human footprints reveal how Mesolithic hunters tracked their prey through Wales' boggy landscape
Pre-historic footprints of both children and adults were found at Port Eynon
First discovered in 2014, they were initially thought to date to the Bronze Age
Study by Cardiff University has revealed they are actually 3,000 years older
Post-Ice Age human footprints are rare in the UK, with only nine recorded intertidal sites, the majority of which are in Wales
By Ellie Zolfagharifard for MailOnline and Press Association
28 February 2017
Ancient human footprints discovered on the Welsh coastline are 7,000 years old and could show a snapshot of a Mesolithic hunting party, researchers have said.
Discovered in 2014, the five prehistoric footprints of both children and adults at Port Eynon on the Gower Peninsula, South Wales, were initially thought to date to the Bronze Age.
But a new study carried out at Cardiff University has revealed they are actually 3,000 years older than that.
Ancient human footprints discovered on the Welsh coastline are 7,000 years old and could show a snapshot of a Mesolithic hunting party, researchers have said. Discovered in 2014, the pre-historic footprints of both children and adults at Port Eynon on the Gower peninsula
Archaeology PhD student Rhiannon Philp carried out radiocarbon dating on the fragile footprints, which now places them in the Mesolithic period, a time when humans were predominantly hunting and gathering.
There are are five prints, likely made by more than one person as there are of two slightly different lengths.
Two of them point towards the sea and the other three point inland.
Researchers believe they were made by a hunting party of children and adults.
Ms Philp, a student in the University's School of History, Archaeology and Religion, said: 'These 'frozen' footprints made in freshwater marshland give us a fleeting glance of a group of adults and children travelling together seven millennia ago.
'But the picture is even more precise. Wild animal tracks suggest deer and wild boar moving in the same direction.
'What we might be witnessing 7,000 years later is a snapshot moment of a Mesolithic hunting party tracking their prey through an open, boggy landscape now lost to the waves.'
A spokeswoman for the university said post-Ice Age human footprints were rare in the UK, with only nine recorded intertidal sites, the majority of which are in Wales.
Archaeology PhD student Rhiannon Philp carried out radiocarbon dating on the fragile footprints, which now places them in the Mesolithic period, a time when humans were predominantly hunting and gathering
The Gower Peninsula
She added Ms Philp's research was helping to contextualise and rebuild a landscape now lost to rising sea levels and increase understanding of the people who lived within it.
Ms Philp added: 'Given the fragility of these examples and climate change now and then, it is incredibly important to obtain as much information as possible whenever the opportunity arises.'
The analysis was funded by the Cambrian Archaeological Society and the Gower Society and further research is now under way to better understand the ancient environment and the people who lived in it.
Traces are now glimpsed only at low tide.
THE GOWER COAST
The Gower coast has proved a hot-bed of ancient discoveries over the years.
It is believed to have been occupied since before the retreat of the last Ice Age, and evidence of this ancient occupation is still there today.
The earliest physical evidence of modern man in Gower was discovered in 1823 in Paviland Cave.
Evidence of a Mesolithic settlement in Gower was first found on Burry Holmes in 1919.
Various Neolithic and Bronze Age cairns can be found throughout Gower.
The most notable is Cefn Bryn, which holds 'Arthur's Stone' . This is a Neolithic burial tomb dating back to 2500 BC.
Discovered in 2014, the five prehistoric footprints of both children and adults at Port Eynon on the Gower Peninsula, South Wales, were initially thought to date to the Bronze Age.
But a new study carried out at Cardiff University has revealed they are actually 3,000 years older than that...
The 7,000-year-old hunting ground: Ancient human footprints reveal how Mesolithic hunters tracked their prey through Wales' boggy landscape
Pre-historic footprints of both children and adults were found at Port Eynon
First discovered in 2014, they were initially thought to date to the Bronze Age
Study by Cardiff University has revealed they are actually 3,000 years older
Post-Ice Age human footprints are rare in the UK, with only nine recorded intertidal sites, the majority of which are in Wales
By Ellie Zolfagharifard for MailOnline and Press Association
28 February 2017
Ancient human footprints discovered on the Welsh coastline are 7,000 years old and could show a snapshot of a Mesolithic hunting party, researchers have said.
Discovered in 2014, the five prehistoric footprints of both children and adults at Port Eynon on the Gower Peninsula, South Wales, were initially thought to date to the Bronze Age.
But a new study carried out at Cardiff University has revealed they are actually 3,000 years older than that.
Ancient human footprints discovered on the Welsh coastline are 7,000 years old and could show a snapshot of a Mesolithic hunting party, researchers have said. Discovered in 2014, the pre-historic footprints of both children and adults at Port Eynon on the Gower peninsula
Archaeology PhD student Rhiannon Philp carried out radiocarbon dating on the fragile footprints, which now places them in the Mesolithic period, a time when humans were predominantly hunting and gathering.
There are are five prints, likely made by more than one person as there are of two slightly different lengths.
Two of them point towards the sea and the other three point inland.
Researchers believe they were made by a hunting party of children and adults.
Ms Philp, a student in the University's School of History, Archaeology and Religion, said: 'These 'frozen' footprints made in freshwater marshland give us a fleeting glance of a group of adults and children travelling together seven millennia ago.
'But the picture is even more precise. Wild animal tracks suggest deer and wild boar moving in the same direction.
'What we might be witnessing 7,000 years later is a snapshot moment of a Mesolithic hunting party tracking their prey through an open, boggy landscape now lost to the waves.'
A spokeswoman for the university said post-Ice Age human footprints were rare in the UK, with only nine recorded intertidal sites, the majority of which are in Wales.
Archaeology PhD student Rhiannon Philp carried out radiocarbon dating on the fragile footprints, which now places them in the Mesolithic period, a time when humans were predominantly hunting and gathering
The Gower Peninsula
She added Ms Philp's research was helping to contextualise and rebuild a landscape now lost to rising sea levels and increase understanding of the people who lived within it.
Ms Philp added: 'Given the fragility of these examples and climate change now and then, it is incredibly important to obtain as much information as possible whenever the opportunity arises.'
The analysis was funded by the Cambrian Archaeological Society and the Gower Society and further research is now under way to better understand the ancient environment and the people who lived in it.
Traces are now glimpsed only at low tide.
THE GOWER COAST
The Gower coast has proved a hot-bed of ancient discoveries over the years.
It is believed to have been occupied since before the retreat of the last Ice Age, and evidence of this ancient occupation is still there today.
The earliest physical evidence of modern man in Gower was discovered in 1823 in Paviland Cave.
Evidence of a Mesolithic settlement in Gower was first found on Burry Holmes in 1919.
Various Neolithic and Bronze Age cairns can be found throughout Gower.
The most notable is Cefn Bryn, which holds 'Arthur's Stone' . This is a Neolithic burial tomb dating back to 2500 BC.