The environmental contexts of early human occupation of northwest Europe: The British Lower Palaeolithic record

There are now a growing number of sites with a range of proxies that enable a reconstruction of the human habitats of Early and Middle Pleistocene sites in northern Europe. This paper reviews the British record from these periods and concludes that humans were able to survive in a range of climatic and vegetational zones from the earliest occupation in the Early and early Middle Pleistocene. The likely source areas for colonising populations in southern Europe and the probable habitats to which they were adapted in these source areas is discussed. It is argued that colonising populations would need new strategies to cope successfully with northern latitudes, with technological innovations, such as clothing, shelter and possibly fire, being more likely than seasonal migration or physical adaptation. Finally, it is suggested that the earliest evidence prior to 500 ka reflects pioneering populations, perhaps of Homo antecessor, with only sporadic occupation of northern Europe. However, by 500 ka new technologies and other adaptive strategies enabled Homo heidelbergensis to have a more sustained occupation in northern latitudes.