Surviving the Ice: Early Humans in Britain’s Harshest Climates

Peaceful Dove

14-09-2025

– When it is a matter of life and death, to survive, one must be intelligent.

In “Luck”; Wild Wise Weird [1]

© Wix

When and how early humans first survived Europe’s icy northern latitudes has long been a mystery. Archaeological evidence north of 51° latitude is scarce before 600,000 years ago, making it unclear whether European ancestors could endure such extreme cold [2,3].

A groundbreaking study at Fordwich Pit, in Old Park, Canterbury, UK, now sheds new light. Excavations led by Key and colleagues [4] uncovered artefacts and sediments dating back between 712,000 and 424,000 years ago, providing some of the earliest evidence of human occupation in northern Europe during glacial periods.

Radiometric and palaeomagnetic dating identified multiple occupation phases. The oldest layers (Marine Isotope Stages 17–16, around 700,000 years ago) contained flaked stone tools, including early Acheulean handaxes. Later layers, from MIS 14 and MIS 12 (around 542,000 and 437,000 years ago), revealed fresh flakes and biface-thinning tools embedded directly in glacial-age gravels—clear signs that humans returned and adapted to severe cold. Remarkably, over 330 handaxes historically collected from the site also suggest repeated occupations, with technological changes spanning nearly 200,000 years [4].

These discoveries demonstrate that early humans were not merely warm-climate wanderers. They repeatedly occupied Britain’s high latitudes, enduring long, harsh winters. Survival likely depended on behavioural flexibility—ranging from advanced stone tool production to exploiting grassland ecologies with limited forest resources [5,6].

The significance goes beyond archaeology. The fate of early humans was tightly bound to environmental shifts [7]. Just as past populations adapted to glacial extremes, today’s societies must adapt to climate upheaval. By learning from early humans who endured ice ages through innovation and resilience, we are reminded that survival depends not on dominating nature, but on adapting intelligently to it [8].

References

[1] Vuong QH. (2024). Wild Wise Weird. https://books.google.com/books?id=N10jEQAAQBAJ

[2] Parfitt SA, et al. (2010). Early Pleistocene human occupation at the edge of the boreal zone in northwest Europe. Nature, 466, 229-233. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09117

[3] Key A, Ashton N. (2023). Hominins likely occupied northern Europe before one million years ago. Evolutionary Anthropology, 32, 10-25. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21966

[4] Key A, et al. (2025). Hominin glacial-stage occupation 712,000 to 424,000 years ago at Fordwich Pit, Old Park (Canterbury, UK). Nature Ecology & Evolution. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02829-x

[5] Ashton N, Lewis SG. (2012). The environmental contexts of early human occupation of northwest Europe: the British Lower Palaeolithic record. Quaternary International, 271, 50-64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2011.10.022

[6] Davis R, et al. (2021). Palaeolithic archaeology of the Bytham River: human occupation of Britain during the early Middle Pleistocene and its European context. Journal of Quaternary Science, 36, 526-546. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3305

[7] Nguyen MH. (2024). How can satirical fables offer us a vision for sustainability? Visions for Sustainability, 23(11267), 323-328. https://doi.org/10.13135/2384-8677/11267

[8] Vuong QH, Nguyen MH. (2025). On Nature Quotient. Pacific Conservation Biology, 31, PC25028. https://doi.org/10.1071/PC25028