Searching for the First Britons

A stone hand axe from Britain, credited to Neanderthal workers.
Image: BBC.co.uk

The second phase of the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain project has secured funds to begin. The project's first phase pushed human occupation of the island back 200,000 years, and scientists hope the next phase may yield further clues. Multiple species of humans have occupied Britain, including Homo heidelbergensis, Neanderthal man, and, of course, anatomically modern humans. Migrations occured over several hundred thousand years from the continent. The earliest site thus discovered is at Pakefield on the east coast of Britain, dating to some 700,000 years before present.

--BBC.co.uk has more information