Britain’s ‘oldest Northerner’ was a three-year-old girl, a new study has revealed.
Remains dating back 11,000 years were found at Heaning Wood Bone Cave in Cumbria’s Great Urswick in 2023.
Initially, scientists suggested the ancient remains belonged to a man.
However, experts from the University of Lancashire have now managed to extract enough DNA from the bones to identify who they really belonged to.
According to their analysis, they are actually of a female child, aged between 2.5 and 3.5 years old.
The team has dubbed the little girl the ‘Ossick Lass’, which in the local vernacular means Urswick girl.
‘It is the first time we have been able to be so specific about the age of a child whose remains are so old and be certain that they are from a female,’ said Dr Rick Peterson, lead author of the study.
While earlier human remains have been found in southern England and Wales, this marks the oldest discovery in Northern England.
Experts from the University of Lancashire have managed to extract enough DNA from the bones to identify who they really belonged to. Pictured: a fragment of maxilla (upper jaw and face) of the ‘oldest northerner’
The remains date back 11,000 years, and were found at Heaning Wood Bone Cave in Cumbria’s Great Urswick in 2023
Local archaeologist Martin Stables began excavating the site back in 2016.
Since then, he has discovered everything from human and animal bones, to stone tools, prehistoric pottery, and jewellery.
‘It’s nearly 10 years since I started the excavations in July 2016 and I couldn’t have envisaged the journey I have undertaken,’ Mr Stables said.
‘Effectively, I was the first to bear witness to the obviously caring burial of someone’s child that occurred over 11,000 years ago.’
In total, eight humans have been found in the cave, with the others dated to the Bronze Age (4,500 to 2,500 years ago) or the Neolithic period (7,100 to 3,500 years ago).
Researchers were surprised when the remains of the Ossick Lass were much older than the others.
The child would have been one of the first humans to reoccupy Britain after the last Ice Age, when ice covered about 30 per cent of the land in the world.
In Britain at the time, glacial ice and waterflows spread as far south as the Bristol Channel.
Local archaeologist Martin Stables began excavating the site back in 2016. Since then, he has discovered everything from human and animal bones, to stone tools, prehistoric pottery, and jewellery
While earlier human remains have been found in southern England and Wales, this marks the oldest discovery in Northern England. Pictured: Drone image from above cave towards Urswick tarn
Earlier human remains are known from southern England and from Wales, but the destructive effect of glaciations means that such finds are rare in northern Britain.
Dr Peterson previously told the BBC that 11,000 years ago is ‘astonishingly early for the north’.
‘To put it in perspective, the last Ice Age lasted until about 11,600 years ago,’ he said.
‘After that period, the global temperature warmed rapidly over about 100 years to give us the climate we’ve got today.
‘These people are just about as early as we could expect them to be – the pioneers reoccupying the land after the Ice Age.’
Before this discovery, the ‘earliest northerner’ was a 10,000-year-old burial from the nearby Kents Bank Cavern discovered in 2013.
As part of the latest study, the team also analysed a perforated deer tooth and beads discovered at the site.
This confirmed that these date back 11,000 years – making them around the same age as the Ossick Lass.
As part of the latest study, the team also analysed a perforated deer tooth and beads discovered at the site. This confirmed that these date back 11,000 years – making them around the same age as the Ossick Lass
‘Dating the jewellery to the same time frame as the remains provides more evidence that this was a deliberate burial and opens up conversations about the significance of cave burials during this period,’ Dr Peterson said.
‘Modern hunter-gatherer groups often see caves as a gateway into the spirit world.
‘This may be why we see so many caves used for burial by Early Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in northern Europe.’
WHO WAS THE CHEDDAR MAN AND WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT HIM?
Cheddar Man, unearthed in 1903 in a cave in Somerset, lived around 10,000 years ago. A huge hole in his skull (pictured) suggests he died a violent death
Britain’s oldest complete human skeleton, known as Cheddar Man, was unearthed in 1903 in Gough’s Cave in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset.
The prehistoric male lived around 10,000 years ago, and a huge hole in his skull suggests he died a violent death.
Other remains found at Gough’s Cave have been linked to cannibalistic rituals, trophy display and secondary burial by prehistoric humans.
Cheddar Man, thought to have died in his twenties and have had a relatively good diet, lived in Britain when it was almost completely depopulated.
Although previous populations had settled in Britain long before his arrival, they were wiped out before him.
The Cheddar Man marked the start of continuous habitation on the island, making him among the very first modern Britons.
Genetically, he belonged to a group of people known as the ‘Western Hunter-Gatherers’, Mesolithic-era individuals from Spain, Hungary and Luxembourg.
His ancestors migrated to Europe from the Middle East after the Ice Age and today, 10 per cent of White British people are descended from the group.
Scientists have reconstructed the Cheddar Man’s face several times using the shape of his skull and assumptions about the appearance of the first Britons.
Most of these analyses were not based on DNA data, and assumed he was white with light hair.
Cheddar Man, thought to have died in his twenties and have had a relatively good diet, lived in Britain when it was almost completely depopulated. Pictured is a reconstruction of the prehistoric male’s remains as they were found in a Gough’s Cave a century ago
