The coast of North Norfolk and its surrounding villages and towns make up one of the most delightful parts of the British Isles. The many glorious churches and monastic houses, with a past of prosperous landowners that built great houses along the coast and inland have shown that this part of the country was a rich one in the Middle Ages. All of these are still being explored today.
Deep History Coast
Deep history refers to the distant past of the human species going back 50,000- 500,000 years. Significant archaeological findings were made on the North Norfolk Coast towards the end of the 20th century. These findings provided significant proofs of human occupants ever discovered in northern Europe. For this reason, scientists were led to refer to this area and it’s shorline as the Deep History Coast. The findings also produced information on the story of Doggerland, a continent that connected Britain via a land mass and the animals that lived in it.
An almost complete skeleton of the world’s biggest mammoth about 600,000 years old was found at West Runton. The Mammoth remains are the best-preserved of its kind. Excavations are constantly going on and have revealed the rare fossils and bones of animals like rhinos, hyenas, wolves and bears. The coastal erosion of recent years have contributed in the unveiling of the new secrets about this era. Palaeolithic tools of 850,000 years and 550,000 years such as flint axes, were also discovered in Happisburgh. The later had been preserved in a former forest and was discovered by a dog-walker in 2000. The tool is kept at the Norwich Castle Museum, a short drive from north Norfolk. If you need to know more about the ice age geology, then North Norfolk is considered to be the best place to do that. There have been plans to promote the North Norfolk coast with funding from North Norfolk District Council.