Ancient footprints record decline in biodiversity in ancient Britain

The footprints show that humans lived alongside animals, such as the now-extinct aurochs, as well as deer, wild boar, and beaver
Researchers have found human footprints from thousands of years ago on Formby Beach
Professor Jamie Woodward
Seren Morris3 October 2022

Ancient human footprints that were made around 8,200 years ago have been found on Formby Beach in north-western England.

Researchers have found hundreds of ancient footprints from thousands of years ago in an area with one of the largest collections of prehistoric animal tracks on the planet.

A team of archaeologists and geographers from the University of Manchester used a radiocarbon-dating method to determine the ages of the footprints and discovered that they were much older than previously thought.

The footprints, which were baked in the sun and remained buried for thousands of years, show a decline in the rich biodiversity that existed in ancient Britain.

The findings, as published in the Nature Ecology and Evolution journal, show that, as global sea levels rapidly rose following the last ice age (around 6,000 to 9,000 years ago), humans lived alongside animals such as aurochs (a now-extinct species of cattle), red deer, roe deer, wild boar, and beaver, as well as the predators, including wolf and lynx.

However, the footprint beds demonstrate that there was a decline in large mammals, which could have occurred as a result of sea levels rising, agricultural development, and an increase in hunting.

Dr Alison Burns, who spent six years undertaking the field research, said in a press release: “The Formby footprint beds form one of the world’s largest known concentrations of prehistoric vertebrate tracks.

“Well-dated fossil records for this period are absent in the landscapes around the Irish Sea basin. This is the first time that such a faunal history and ecosystem has been reconstructed solely from footprint evidence.”

Professor Jamie Woodward added: “Assessing the threats to habitat and biodiversity posed by rising sea levels is a key research priority for our times – we need to better understand these processes in both the past and the present.

“This research shows how sea-level rise can transform coastal landscapes and degrade important ecosystems.”

Professor Woodward also told the BBC: “Up to about 6,000 years ago, there was a very diverse landscape with all those animals.

“Then, after about 5,500 years ago, we see lots of human footprints, some deer and dogs, but not much else.

“So what we’re seeing - through the footprints - is a landscape transforming with sea-level rise, and also with the arrival of agriculture that probably put a lot more pressure on this ecosystem.”

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