21 February 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

The earliest human remains 11,000-year-old discovered in northern Britain

An international team of archaeologists at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) has discovered 11,000-year-old human remains in the Heaning Wood Bone cave in Cumbria, England. The discovery is the oldest human remains ever found in northern Britain.

The UCLan team has been able to prove at least eight different people were buried in the cave. Despite the fragmented condition of the human remains, the accompanying artifacts make it likely that these were all deliberate burials.

E.G. Holland excavated the Heaning Wood Bone Cave for the first time in 1958, yielding the skeletal remains of three adults and a juvenile dated to the Early Bronze Age by radiocarbon dating.

Archaeologists returned to the cave in 2016, revealing animal bones such as Bos, Sus, and Canis, stone tools, prehistoric pottery, and beads made from shells.

Photo: Heaning Wood Bone Cave

A recent excavation by Martin Stables uncovered a periwinkle shell bead and human remains dating back 11,000 years to the Early Mesolithic, when Homo sapiens, or modern humans, were the only hominid species still surviving in the British Isles. The team identified 8 individuals buried in the cave, 7 of which have been dated by researchers from the University of Nevada and Pennsylvania State University using radiocarbon dating.

The results show the cave was used for burials at three different periods in the prehistoric past: around 4,000-years-ago in the Early Bronze Age; approximately 5,500-years-ago in the Early Neolithic; and around 11,000-years-ago during the very early part of the Mesolithic period.

They discovered a date on one of the shell beads showed it was around 11,000-years-old and was likely to have used during a burial.

The shell bead discovered and radiocarbon dated to 11,000-years-old. Photo: Cumbriacrack

Martin said: “I never expected anything like the Early Mesolithic connection in my wildest dreams. After six years digging it’s all ended up in a place I never expected it to get to. I can’t wait to hear all the final results, it’s staggering so far, difficult to imagine what it would have been like around here over 11,000-years-ago.”

Earlier human remains are known from southern England and from Wales, but the destructive effect of past glaciations means that such finds are rare in northern Britain. Before this discovery, the ‘earliest northerner’ was a 10,000-year-old burial from the nearby Kent’s Bank Cavern discovered in 2013.

UCLan’s Dr. Rick Peterson added: “Cave burials like this are well known from some periods of British prehistory and the Heaning Wood burials are an important addition to our knowledge of funeral practices. Together with the slightly later dates from Kent’s Bank Cavern, it shows, as people re-occupied the land, how important the whole of Britain was to this process.”

The site is still being researched, and a detailed study of what happened to each individual after they were placed in the cave is still being conducted.

UCLan

Related Articles

2000-year-old Genuine Pompeii marble relief installed in a wall lining the staircase leading down to the basement in a Belgium home

22 December 2023

22 December 2023

An important marble relief depicting the earthquake of 62 AD, stolen from the ruins of ancient Pompeii in Italy in...

An engraving on an almost 2,000-year-old knife believed to be the oldest runes ever found in Denmark has been discovered by archaeologists

22 January 2024

22 January 2024

Archaeologists have found a small knife with a completely unique runic inscription that can be dated almost 2000 years ago....

Iraq’s historic Arch of Ctesiphon undergoes restoration work

28 November 2021

28 November 2021

Iraq’s Arch of Ctesiphon, the world’s largest brick-built arch, is having restoration work to return it to its former splendour,...

New Study Reveals That the First English Settlers in North America Ate Dogs to Survive

28 May 2024

28 May 2024

The first English settlers to arrive in North America ate indigenous dogs to survive an extreme period of starvation, according...

15 new sculptures discovered in Turkey’s sculpture paradise Yesemek

8 December 2021

8 December 2021

Archaeologists discovered 15 new sculptures during recent digs around the Yesemek Open Air Museum and Sculpture Workshop in the Islahiye...

60 Elongated Structures of Unknown Function and Neolithic Silos Discovered in France

12 October 2024

12 October 2024

The Pfulgriesheim site, located in northeastern France’s Alsace region, underwent extensive archaeological research before being developed as a new urban...

Scandinavia’s first farmers slaughtered the hunter-gatherer population, according to a new study

9 February 2024

9 February 2024

Following the arrival of the first farmers in Scandinavia 5,900 years ago, the hunter-gatherer population was wiped out within a...

Medieval Ring with a Skull Emblem Found in Wales and The Gold Coins are Declared Treasure

11 April 2021

11 April 2021

Located in wales nine treasure finds dating from the medieval and post-medieval periods have been declared treasure. Metal detectors in...

The newly discovered fossils are 200,000 years old in Denisova Cave

29 November 2021

29 November 2021

Scientists have discovered the earliest remains of a human lineage known as the Denisovans. Researchers have identified stone artifacts connected...

Metal Scraps were Used İnstead of Money in Bronze Age Europe

8 May 2021

8 May 2021

Bronze scrap uncovered in hoards in Europe was used as currency, according to researchers from the Universities of Göttingen and...

Severe drought in Italy unearths remains of an ancient bridge in Rome

15 July 2022

15 July 2022

Continued severe heat in Italy has uncovered an archaeological treasure in Rome: a bridge reportedly built by the Roman emperor...

Rare Bronze Age Metalworking Hoard Discovered in Wiltshire, Including an Anvil

20 February 2025

20 February 2025

A remarkable discovery has been made in Urchfont, a village located in Wiltshire, England, where a Bronze Age hoard of...

A woman was buried in a canoe on her way to the ‘destination of souls’ 800 years ago

25 August 2022

25 August 2022

According to new research, Up to 800 years ago, mourners buried a young woman in a ceremonial canoe to represent...

2,000-Year-Old Artifacts Found at Swat’s Butkara Site in Pakistan, Including Coins and Kharosthi Inscriptions

14 February 2025

14 February 2025

Excavations at the Butkara Stupa, located near Mingora in Swat, Pakistan, have uncovered significant findings, including two-thousand-year-old coins, pottery, and...

Largest-Known Flower Preserved in Amber Is Nearly 40 Million Years Old

20 January 2023

20 January 2023

The largest-known fossilized flower encased in amber, dating back nearly 40 million years, was again discovered in the Baltic region...