2,000-year-old footprints discovered on beach after storms

Two dog walkers have discovered 2,000-year-old footprints on a Scottish beach which were briefly uncovered by recent storms.

Locals Ivor Campbell and Jenny Snedden were walking their dogs at Lunan Bay in Angus in late January when they noticed storm damage to the dunes had revealed a fresh layer of clay in which Mr Campbell spotted distinct markings.

Archaeologists called to the scene found the prints were of human and animal feet and had been made around 2,000 years ago at the height of the Roman Empire.

Experts said there is no previous record of such a site in Scotland, though similar markings have been identified at a small number of sites in England including Formby in Merseyside, Happisburgh in Norfolk, and the Severn Estuary in the South West.

The team of University of Aberdeen archaeologists faced a race against time to capture data from the site before it was reclaimed by the sea, and they worked in windspeeds of more than 55mph to do so.

Professor Kate Britton, who led the team, said: “We knew we were dealing with a really rare site and that this discovery offered a unique snapshot in time – but it was also clear that the sea would soon take back what had so recently been revealed.

“We had to work fast in the worst conditions I’ve ever encountered for archaeological fieldwork – the sea was coming in fast, with every high tide ripping away parts of the site, while wind-blown sand was simultaneously damaging it.

“We were effectively being sand-blasted and the site was too, all while we were trying to delicately clean, study and document it, so it became a race against the elements. Within 48 hours the entire site was destroyed.”

The team were able to record and map the site, and capture 3D models and physical casts of the prints.

Once back in the laboratory, they selected preserved plant remains found in deposits just below the footprints for radiocarbon dating, which confirmed the markings were made around 2,000 years ago.

Ongoing analysis of the footprints has identified roe deer, red deer and other animals, as well as humans who would have walked barefoot on the now semi-fossilised clay.

Professor Gordon Noble, who was one of the team members, said: “The late Iron Age dates are in keeping with what we know about the rich archaeology of nearby Lunan Valley.

“It’s very exciting to think these prints were made by people around the time of the Roman invasions of Scotland and in the centuries leading up to the emergence of the Picts.”

Post-doctoral researchers Dr Will Mills and Dr Elinor Graham, and PhD students Sarah Barakat, Thomas Warrington and Tayla Sanders, were also involved in the work.

When the weather was calm enough, the researchers also flew a drone to capture the site from the air, enabling them to map the footprints in 3D with millimetre accuracy as a permanent record.

Dr Mills said: “The site also tells us how this now sandy beach was once a muddy estuary and that humans were using this environment, perhaps for hunting deer or to collect wild plant foods such as samphire.”

When Mr Campbell first spotted the markings, he initially called council archaeologist Bruce Mann. He contacted experts at the university, realising it would be a race against time to capture the data.

Mr Mann, regional archaeologist serving Aberdeenshire, Angus, Moray and Aberdeen City councils, said: “Standing there, watching the site being destroyed as the waves crashed over it, was heartbreaking in some ways, but at least we got the chance to record most of it.

“There is nothing left now, the storms having both revealed and then destroyed the site in just over a week.”