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1. Story of England: Stone Age to Roman Days

Dan Snow's History Hit

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The Neanderthals and the English Channel

Around 450,000 years ago a huge lake formed in what's now the North Sea. Eventually it overflowed and cut through the chalk ridge that was joining us to France. Each time it got cold later on, the sea level fell and then it rose again. And this continued to erode that channel until we have a geographical situation similar to the present day. When do modern human beings appear on the scene? We think our lineage evolved in Africa over hundreds of thousands of years,. But in terms of getting to Britain, the oldest evidence we have at the moment is a little bit of jawbone from Kent's cabin in Devon. They might have been here a bit earlier.

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