Lessons of footprints
THIS week your history hunters become hunter gatherers, turning the clock back several thousand years to stroll into the distant past and look at the ancient spirits who foraged along the ancient coastline ekeing out some kind of existence and survival plan.
Come with us as we sweep back in time, striving through the bracing salted wind into the distant past, seeking the ghosts of the restless shoreline.
At the time, prehistoric man was chasing after the family dinner between Formby and Ainsdale – and his wife was gathering up various seafoods for an aperitif while their children were larking about on the beach after collecting a seaweed breakfast – our embryo sand dunes were beginning to form.
About 9500 BC the Ice Age ended and the vast ice sheets that covered the area began to melt leading to a rise in sea levels and the formation of the Irish Sea, and some 7,000 years ago a huge sandbank formed stretching from what is now Southport to the North Wales coast, creating a vast lagoon.
The freshwater mudflats or shallow lagoon (depending on the season) would have been biologically rich with a host of plants, birds and mammals – a perfect place to hunt and forage!
Fast flowing streams deposited sediment into this lagoon and eventually a salt marsh was created.
Reed beds grew and these were fringed with woodland consisting of alder and oak, an area that attracted animals and birds, so humans came to hunt and fish.
All left their footprints in the mud and in the spring and summer some of these prints were baked hard by the sun.
Sand was blown into the holes left by the prints and these were covered as more mud was carried down by the streams, effectively sealing in the footprints.
Over the centuries this process was repeated and layers of sediment were built up.
Present day erosion and the changing coastline have unearthed some of the sedimentary deposits.
The outcrops of sediment are easily distinguished both in colour and texture from the surrounding sand, and the prints are often found in the clay known as “blue billy”.
The prehistoric prints can be discovered along a 2½-mile (4km) coastal strip between Formby and Ainsdale, dating back 4-8,000 years, with modern-day archaeologists dubbing their discovery “sensational”, with others hailing the discovery as “up there with the best exposures this country has ever had in terms of prehistoric footprints”.
Indeed, as a whole, they are one of the most significant historic footprint finds this country has ever seen, and led to enthusiasts scouring the coastline with a proverbial fine-tooth comb – and they struck lucky!
The “discovery bed” now stretches like an incredible Who’s Who of the Mesolithic period along the beach.
Throughout different periods of history there were animals in the Formby area coming down to the water’s edge and as the coastline was being recreated their footprints became locked in the sediments.
These amazing layers of estuarine mud go deep – around six metres – and may have many more treasures to share before they gradually wear away for ever.
Marine scientists explain that the beaches are gradually receding, which forces layers of sand and ancient sediments to disperse to clearly reveal portions which have lain undisturbed for several thousands of years – featuring the amazing imprints.
While the prints of humans, animals and birds often appear and then disappear, depending on the weather and season, the initial discovery came as a complete surprise, even shock, to many people – and joy to others.
Organisers got more local people involved to help the experts with the project, with some archaeology training sessions, and now well over 150 prehistoric footprints have been logged.
Many people who witness them, and realise just what they are, feel a shiver go down their spine, and they get a real direct connection with the coastal folk from thousands of years ago.
There are only three known sites around the world where human footprints more than 5,000 years old are preserved in the intertidal zone: two in south-east Argentina and one right here in north west England, Formby.
All are exceptionally fragile sites, but the ones at Formby are often only visible for a single tidal cycle, and then destroyed by the incoming Irish Sea.
All three sites find humans coexisting with species of animals, birds and fauna, and the prints range from single impressions – from the trails of individuals walking or running, to clusters of several distinct prints of all ages, and the distinctive prints of playful, gambolling children.
Yes indeed, our beautiful and impressive coastline – much of it under the wing of the National Trust – contains a tantalising glimpse into the lives of our ancient, hunter-gathering ancestors, with the sand and mud between Formby and Ainsdale holding traces of a long gone past.
Here, along this very different coastline, the unique footprints of the humans that lived or hunted along its tracts – as well as the animals and birdlife that sustained them – were preserved through a process of sun, sand and mud.
The sediment beds that contain the footprints, baked into the muddy clay layers beneath the sands, are exposed by tidal erosion offer a unique, yet temporary glimpse and brief exciting insight, into the prehistoric life of the area, and a remarkable experience.
Although the mysterious shoreline footprints had been noted in the 1950s, the first person to take an active role in studying the fascinating imprints, was the former teacher and
at
Harrington Road resident, Gordon Roberts, in 1989.
Many deductions of the finds were made and their significance was slowly realised.
It is now 32 years since Gordon brought the prehistoric prints to the fore.
Walking along the Formby beach in 1988 with his bedraggled puppy, Kim (found on the streets of Liverpool), the retired teacher spotted some unusual trails of footprints on an exposed patch of silt.
His curiosity aroused, the dogwalking took him along the Point almost every day, and in March 1989 he finally discovered the prints for himself, and began taking notes, then photographs, then plaster casts and careful measurements.
Soon he found that the prints were thousands of years old, and over the following months he had recorded the tracks of deer, extinct wild cattle, large birds, and humans – in particular, children.
After more than 25 years of identifying, recording and analysing print sites, Gordon built up a detailed reference archive of intertidal-zone Mesolithic-Neolithic (Middle to New-Late Stone Age) footprint data.
Once head of languages at Formby High, Gordon devised a system of tracking and monitoring the location of the visible prints that helped to paint a truer image of Sefton’s coastal past.
He took plaster casts of their impressions in the sand and copies are now placed on the floor of the new Museum of Liverpool so visitors can walk in the footsteps of prehistoric people – and one set was given to Geoff’s father.
Government scientists, looking to protect the rare ancient footprints,