What did early visitors find here?

700,000 years ago, the climate and vegetation wouldn’t have been that different from the woodlands and fens of East Anglia today. Some of the plants have died out, indicating that summers then were rather warmer and winters rather milder than now.

The big contrast would have been in the wildlife. Our ancestors would have heard the roar of lions and the sinister whooping of hyena. They might have seen a four-metre-tall mammoth crashing through the woodland, or a hippo lazing on the river bank.

Many of these ancient animals are now extinct in Britain: giant beaver, giant deer, moose, gazelle, rhino, elephant and mammoth; along with the animals that preyed on them such as lion, spotted hyena, wolf, bear and sabre-toothed cat.