An Anglo-Saxon execution cemetery at Walkington Wold, Yorkshire

This paper presents a re-evaluation of a cemetery excavated over 30 years ago at Walkington Wold in east Yorkshire. The cemetery is characterized by careless burial on diverse alignments, and by the fact that most of the skeletons did not have associated crania. The cemetery has been variously described as being the result of an early post-Roman massacre, as providing evidence for a ‘Celtic’ head cult or as an Anglo-Saxon execution cemetery. In order to resolve the matter, radiocarbon dates were acquired and a re-examination of the skeletal remains was undertaken. It was confirmed that the cemetery was an Anglo-Saxon execution cemetery, the only known example from northern England, and the site is set into its wider context in the paper

The earliest known humans in Northern Europe: artefacts from the Cromer Forest-bed at Pakefield, Suffolk, UK

The human colonisation of Eurasia is a key event in the dispersion of early humans out of Africa, however details about timing and ecological context of the earliest human occupation of northwest Europe is uncertain and strongly debated. The southern Caucasus was occupied around 1.8 million years ago (Ma), and early representatives of Homo dispersed to the Mediterranean regions before the Brunhes-Matuyama magnetic reversal, 780 000 years ago (ka) as human remains from Atapuerca-TD6, Spain (>0.78 ma) and Ceprano, Italy (~0.8 ma) show. Up to now, the earliest uncontested artefacts from northern Europe were much younger (~500 thousand years ago), suggesting a climatic reason why early humans were unable to settle in northern latitudes. The recent discovery of flint artefacts from the Cromer Forest-bed Formation at Pakefield (52 N), UK, from a sequence of beds with rich palaeontological remains, proves that the earliest human colonization of Northern Europe was much older than previously expected. A multidisciplinary approach, involving sequence stratigraphy, palaeomagnetism, Amino-Acid geochronology, and biostratigraphy, indicates that the artefacts date to the early part of the Brunhes Chron, predating any other human unequivocal evidence north of the Alps

The earliest known humans in Northern Europe: artefacts from the Cromer Forest-bed at Pakefield, Suffolk, UK

The colonization of Eurasia by early humans is a key event after their spread out of Africa, but the nature, timing and ecological context of the earliest human occupation of northwest Europe is uncertain and has been the subject of intense debate1. The southern Caucasus was occupied about 1.8 million years (Myr) ago2, whereas human remains from Atapuerca-TD6, Spain (more than 780 kyr ago)3 and Ceprano, Italy (about 800 kyr ago)4 show that early Homo had dispersed to the Mediterranean hinterland before the Brunhes–Matuyama magnetic polarity reversal (780 kyr ago). Until now, the earliest uncontested artefacts from northern Europe were much younger, suggesting that humans were unable to colonize northern latitudes until about 500 kyr ago5,6. Here we report flint artefacts from the Cromer Forest-bed Formation at Pakefield (528 N), Suffolk, UK, from an interglacial sequence yielding a diverse range of plant and animal fossils. Event and lithostratigraphy, palaeomagnetism, amino acid geochronology and biostratigraphy indicate that the artefacts date to the early part of the Brunhes Chron (about 700 kyr ago) and thus represent the earliest unequivocal evidence for human presence north of the Alps