A line of footprints 'up to 950,000 years old' have been discovered on a beach in Norfolk.
Photographer Paul Macro made the surprising find on the beach in Happisburgh, Norfolk, while working for a company scanning the area.
The prints are between 850,000 and 950,000 years old and are the oldest in existence in the world outside of Africa.
The British Museum confirmed the dating of the prints. They were found near to other prints dating from the same time period, which were discovered in 2013.
Nick Ashton, who works at the British Museum, said the prints were similar to those found in 2013 and "would be of a similar age, either 850,000 or possibly 950,000 years old."
“These are still the oldest outside Africa.”
Professor Simon Lewis, from Queen Mary University, who has worked at the beach for several decades, said: “They are significant, as footprints of this age are very rare." He added that Happisburgh tells us "about the earliest humans in Britain."
It's believe the prints were made by Homo Antecessor, known also as “Pioneer Man”.
They were likely to be between 0.9 metres and 1.7m in height and used simple stone tools.
Mr Macro made the discovery in May, while surveying the coast for 3D scanning company ScanLAB Projects.
Not realising the significance, he said he almost took a jokey picture then looked back "and saw a staggered line" of prints.
“This made it more exciting and likely they could be something unusual," he said.
“I asked my bosses and they said to scan them."
Two days later, the prints were covered by sand and it was "phenomenally exciting" to learn they were so old.
Jason Gibbons, of the Museum Service, said the footprint
The museum service’s Jason Gibbons said: “The footprints are probably made by Homo Antecessor, a more advanced form of Homo Erectus.
“We have recovered their flint tools, we now have more of their footprints and these are the earliest outside of Africa."
The oldest footprints in the world are in Tanzania, which are from 3.5 million years ago.
ScanLAB Projects' spokesman said Mr Macro feared the prints would "very quickly be re-covered in sand or even washed away entirely". He ensured a 3D scan of the site was captured.
Their project is "in the early stages, but we hope the data we collect will form part of a TV documentary or film in the coming few years."
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