UBtheNEWS: Early Migration to Britain

Table of Contents

Introduction
Summary
Urantia Book quotes
Excerpts from news articles, websites, and research papers

Introduction

If you are unfamiliar with the history of humanity presented in The Urantia Book, you may want to start by reviewing Genetic Introductions, Mutations, and Evolution: a Urantia Book perspective. The short version is:

1,000,000 years ago: In Mesopotamia, progressive evolution led to the human genetic mutation. Differently sexed twins separated from their parent’s prehuman tribe and started the first human family—the “Andonites.”

500,000 years ago: In the Afghanistan region, progressive evolution led to another mutation. These dominant genes came from one set of parents and gave rise to six colored (“Sangik”) races. All of them were more intelligent than the Andonites. This triggered the arrival of a host of additional ministering spirits, some of whom took a material form. Based on agreement not biological limitations, they did not procreate. But they were allowed to eat from the Tree of Life, which kept their bodies from aging.

200,000 years ago: A rebellion by ministering spirits occurred (including some that had taken a physical form), giving rise to religious traditions about Lucifer. The disruptive cultural consequences for men and angels also brought about a compensating genetic development—the Nephilim, also called “the mighty men of old.” The Urantia Book refers to them as “Nodites.” Traditions about the gods coming down and mating with the daughters of men relates to this transition, the breaking of the agreement. Compared to the Andonite and Sangik races, the Nodites were more physically robust, intelligent, and spiritually inclined, notwithstanding the significant spiritual confusion and misdirection that occurred as a result of the faithless Lucifer rebellion. Their cultural center at the headwaters of the Persian Gulf became known as the Land of Nod.

37,000 years ago: A now sunken peninsula off the coast of Syria is the location of the Garden of Eden and the source for myths about Atlantis. Adam and Eve were ministering spirits in material form with an agreement to procreate. Once their family attained a population of one half million, Adam and Eve’s descendants were supposed to go out and genetically uplift the rest of the world on all levels—spiritual, mentally, and physically. But their mission was cut short because they grew impatient with the challenges of the Lucifer rebellion. This led to violations of restrictions on how to appropriately procreate, which led to their mortality—the Tree of Life would no longer sustain them. The genetics and culture that developed from the mixture of Adamites with Nodites is referred to as “Andite.”

Summary

In 1955, The Urantia Book said that the first generation of human beings—a male-female twins mutation, referred to as “Andonites”—learned how to use flint for fire, along with hand tools, axes, and weapons, of course. It goes on to describe how a more evolved group—the Foxhall peoples—preserved the first advances with flintworking and migrated to Britain about 950,000 years ago.

(62:5.1)  From the year A.D. 1934 back to the birth of the first two human beings is just 993,419 years.

(64:2.6) Though the remains of the Foxhall peoples were the last to be discovered in England, these Andonites were really the first human beings to live in those regions. At that time the land bridge still connected France with England; and since most of the early settlements of the Andon descendants were located along the rivers and seashores of that early day, they are now under the waters of the English Channel and the North Sea, but some three or four are still above water on the English coast.

(64:1.5)  During most of the ice age England was connected by land with France, while later on Africa was joined to Europe by the Sicilian land bridge. At the time of the Andonic migrations there was a continuous land path from England in the west on through Europe and Asia to Java in the east; but Australia was again isolated, which further accentuated the development of its own peculiar fauna.

(64:1.6)  950,000 years ago the descendants of Andon and Fonta had migrated far to the east and to the west. To the west they passed over Europe to France and England. …

The designation “Foxhall peoples” seems clearly to be a nod to the work of Nina Frances Layard, whose meticulous and pioneering excavation work from 1903 to 1905 on Foxhall Road, Iswitch, England was finally given its due one hundred years later by the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain (AHOB) project.

The designation “Foxhall peoples” seems clearly to be a nod to the work of Nina Frances Layard. The 2005 publication of Miss Layard excavates: the Palaeolithic site at Foxhall Road, Ipswich, 1903-1905 was written by researchers involved with the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain (AHOB) project. In their resurrection of the importance of this archaeological site “White and Plunkett describe how aspiring archaeologist Nina Frances Layard discovered Lower Palaeolithic hand axes and the remains of extinct mammals in a working quarry close to her home in southeastern England; arranged permission, financing, and workers to conduct an excavation; and published her findings. The site is little known today, they say, not because of any failing in the excavation work, but because the lack of supporting professional and official support in the early 20^th century allowed the artifacts to be scattered and the site to be developed later.” (Book News)

AHOB formed in 2001 to revitalize the study of ancient archaeological sites in Britain. The main focus of its work is centered around what seems to be the “three or four” locations referenced in The Urantia Book. In 2005, AHOB research showed that primitive man occupied Britain 700,000 years ago. In 2010, the date was pushed back to 800,000 years ago. Prior to these discoveries, the evidence for early human habitation only went back 500,000 years.

By 2011, core members of AHOB started transitioning the group into a new entity—Pathways of Ancient Britain (PAB).

In 2014, AHOB/PAB announced the discovery of human footprints preserved in estuary mud on the Norfolk coast at Happisburgh, England. Dated to around 900,000 years ago, they are the oldest human footprints ever discovered outside of Africa and provided vital insights into the body sizes and family structures of Britain’s earliest pioneering human species.

In 2025, PAB researchers presented the earliest known global evidence of human-made, controlled fire, pushing the date back by 350,000 years! Centered around excavations at Barnham, Suffolk, this research proved that early humans were intentionally generating fire roughly 400,000 years ago, rather than just opportunistically harvesting it from natural wildfires. Prior to this discovery, the earliest evidence for controlled fire was a site in France dated to 50,000 years ago.

Additionally, PAB has also published research about early migrations to England over a land bridge and early efforts to survive along the riverbeds during severe climate change, consistent with The Urantia Book’s depiction of these events.

Urantia Book quotes:

(64:1.5)  During most of the ice age England was connected by land with France, while later on Africa was joined to Europe by the Sicilian land bridge. At the time of the Andonic migrations there was a continuous land path from England in the west on through Europe and Asia to Java in the east; but Australia was again isolated, which further accentuated the development of its own peculiar fauna.

(64:1.6)  950,000 years ago the descendants of Andon and Fonta had migrated far to the east and to the west. To the west they passed over Europe to France and England. …

The Foxhall Peoples

(64:2.1)  900,000 years ago the arts of Andon and Fonta and the culture of Onagar [humanity’s first great spiritual teacher/leader] were vanishing from the face of the earth; culture, religion, and even flintworking were at their lowest ebb.

(64:2.2)  These were the times when large numbers of inferior mongrel groups were arriving in England from southern France. These tribes were so largely mixed with the forest apelike creatures that they were scarcely human. They had no religion but were crude flintworkers and possessed sufficient intelligence to kindle fire.

(64:2.3)  They were followed in Europe by a somewhat superior and prolific people, whose descendants soon spread over the entire continent from the ice in the north to the Alps and Mediterranean in the south. These tribes are the so-called Heidelberg race.

(64:2.4)  During this long period of cultural decadence the Foxhall peoples of England and the Badonan tribes northwest of India continued to hold on to some of the traditions of Andon and certain remnants of the culture of Onagar.

(64:2.5)  The Foxhall peoples were farthest west and succeeded in retaining much of the Andonic culture; they also preserved their knowledge of flintworking, which they transmitted to their descendants, the ancient ancestors of the Eskimos.

(64:2.6)  Though the remains of the Foxhall peoples were the last to be discovered in England, these Andonites were really the first human beings to live in those regions. At that time the land bridge still connected France with England; and since most of the early settlements of the Andon descendants were located along the rivers and seashores of that early day, they are now under the waters of the English Channel and the North Sea, but some three or four are still above water on the English coast.

(64:2.7)  Many of the more intelligent and spiritual of the Foxhall peoples maintained their racial superiority and perpetuated their primitive religious customs. And these people, as they were later admixed with subsequent stocks, journeyed on west from England after a later ice visitation and have survived as the present-day Eskimos. [End of Section.]

(64:3.1)  Besides the Foxhall peoples in the west, another struggling center of culture persisted in the east. This group was located in the foothills of the northwestern Indian highlands among the tribes of Badonan, a great-great-grandson of Andon.”

(64:3.4)  To the east of the Badonan peoples, in the Siwalik Hills of northern India, may be found fossils that approach nearer to transition types between man and the various prehuman groups than any others on earth.

(64:3.5)  850,000 years ago the superior Badonan tribes began a warfare of extermination directed against their inferior and animalistic neighbors. In less than one thousand years most of the borderland animal groups of these regions had been either destroyed or driven back to the southern forests. This campaign for the extermination of inferiors brought about a slight improvement in the hill tribes of that age. And the mixed descendants of this improved Badonite stock appeared on the stage of action as an apparently new people — the Neanderthal race.

The Neanderthal Races

(64:4.1)  The Neanderthalers were excellent fighters, and they traveled extensively. They gradually spread from the highland centers in northwest India to France on the west, China on the east, and even down into northern Africa. They dominated the world for almost half a million years until the times of the migration of the evolutionary races of color.

(64:4.2)  800,000 years ago game was abundant; many species of deer, as well as elephants and hippopotamuses, roamed over Europe. Cattle were plentiful; horses and wolves were everywhere. The Neanderthalers were great hunters. . .

(64:4.3)  The reindeer was highly useful to these Neanderthal peoples, serving as food, clothing, and for tools, since they made various uses of the horns and bones. They had little culture, but they greatly improved the work in flint until it almost reached the levels of the days of Andon. Large flints attached to wooden handles came back into use and served as axes and picks.

(64:4.4)  750,000 years ago the fourth ice sheet was well on its way south. With their improved implements the Neanderthalers made holes in the ice covering the northern rivers and thus were able to spear the fish which came up to these vents. Ever these tribes retreated before the advancing ice, which at this time made its most extensive invasion of Europe.

(64:4.5)  In these times the Siberian glacier was making its southernmost march, compelling early man to move southward, back toward the lands of his origin. But the human species had so differentiated that the danger of further mingling with its nonprogressive simian relatives was greatly lessened.

(64:4.6)  700,000 years ago the fourth glacier, the greatest of all in Europe, was in recession; men and animals were returning north. The climate was cool and moist, and primitive man again thrived in Europe and western Asia. Gradually the forests spread north over land which had been so recently covered by the glacier.

(64:4.7)  Mammalian life had been little changed by the great glacier. These animals persisted in that narrow belt of land lying between the ice and the Alps and, upon the retreat of the glacier, again rapidly spread out over all Europe. There arrived from Africa, over the Sicilian land bridge, straight-tusked elephants, broad- nosed rhinoceroses, hyenas, and African lions, and these new animals virtually exterminated the saber-toothed tigers and the hippopotamuses.

(64:4.8)  650,000 years ago witnessed the continuation of the mild climate. By the middle of the interglacial period it had become so warm that the Alps were almost denuded of ice and snow.

(64:4.9)  600,000 years ago the ice had reached its then northernmost point of retreat and, after a pause of a few thousand years, started south again on its fifth excursion. But there was little modification of climate for fifty thousand years. Man and the animals of Europe were little changed. The slight aridity of the former period lessened, and the alpine glaciers descended far down the river valleys.

(64:4.10)  550,000 years ago the advancing glacier again pushed man and the animals south. But this time man had plenty of room in the wide belt of land stretching northeast into Asia and lying between the ice sheet and the then greatly expanded Black Sea extension of the Mediterranean.

(64:4.11)  These times of the fourth and fifth glaciers witnessed the further spread of the crude culture of the Neanderthal races. But there was so little progress that it truly appeared as though the attempt to produce a new and modified type of intelligent life on Urantia was about to fail. For almost a quarter of a million years these primitive peoples drifted on, hunting and fighting, by spells improving in certain directions, but, on the whole, steadily retrogressing as compared with their superior Andonic ancestors. [Last two paragraphs of Section omitted.]

(64:7.16)  … The purer Andonites live in the extreme northern regions of Europe and in Iceland, Greenland, and northeastern North America.

(64:7.17)  During the periods of farthest glacial advance the westernmost of the Andon tribes came very near being driven into the sea. They lived for years on a narrow southern strip of the present island of England. And it was the tradition of these repeated glacial advances that drove them to take to the sea when the sixth and last glacier finally appeared. They were the first marine adventurers. They built boats and started in search of new lands which they hoped might be free from the terrifying ice invasions. And some of them reached Iceland, others Greenland, but the vast majority perished from hunger and thirst on the open sea.

(64:7.18)  A little more than eighty thousand years ago, shortly after the red man entered northwestern North America, the freezing over of the north seas and the advance of local ice fields on Greenland drove these Eskimo descendants of the Urantia aborigines to seek a better land, a new home; and they were successful, safely crossing the narrow straits which then separated Greenland from the northeastern land masses of North America. They reached the continent about twenty-one hundred years after the red man arrived in Alaska. Subsequently some of the mixed stock of the blue man journeyed westward and amalgamated with the later-day Eskimos, and this union was slightly beneficial to the Eskimo tribes.

(68:5.2)  The earliest human cultures arose along the rivers of the Eastern Hemisphere, and there were four great steps in the forward march of civilization. They were: …

(68:5.4)  2. The hunting stage. The invention of weapon tools enabled man to become a hunter and thus to gain considerable freedom from food slavery. A thoughtful Andonite who had severely bruised his fist in a serious combat rediscovered the idea of using a long stick for his arm and a piece of hard flint, bound on the end with sinews, for his fist. Many tribes made independent discoveries of this sort, and these various forms of hammers represented one of the great forward steps in human civilization. Today some Australian natives have progressed little beyond this stage.

(81:2.9)  When asked where fire came from, the simple story of Andon and the flint was soon replaced by the legend of how some Prometheus stole it from heaven. The ancients sought a supernatural explanation for all natural phenomena not within the range of their personal comprehension; and many moderns continue to do this. The depersonalization of so-called natural phenomena has required ages, and it is not yet completed. But the frank, honest, and fearless search for true causes gave birth to modern science: It turned astrology into astronomy, alchemy into chemistry, and magic into medicine.

Excerpts from news articles, websites, and research papers

2025 British Museum

Research published today in Nature provides evidence of the earliest known instance of fire-making by humans – around 400,000 years ago. Previous recorded instances of fire-making date to only 50,000 years ago.

See also PAB.
See also The National News.

2014 PAB.

Abstract
Investigations at Happisburgh, UK, have revealed the oldest known hominin footprint surface outside Africa at between ca. 1 million and 0.78 million years ago. The site has long been recognised for the preservation of sediments containing Early Pleistocene fauna and flora, but since 2005 has also yielded humanly made flint artefacts, extending the record of human occupation of northern Europe by at least 350,000 years. The sediments consist of sands, gravels and laminated silts laid down by a large river within the upper reaches of its estuary. In May 2013 extensive areas of the laminated sediments were exposed on the foreshore. On the surface of one of the laminated silt horizons a series of hollows was revealed in an area of ca. 12 m2. The surface was recorded using multi-image photogrammetry which showed that the hollows are distinctly elongated and the majority fall within the range of juvenile to adult hominin foot sizes. In many cases the arch and front/back of the foot can be identified and in one case the impression of toes can be seen. Using foot length to stature ratios, the hominins are estimated to have been between ca. 0.93 and 1.73 m in height, suggestive of a group of mixed ages. The orientation of the prints indicates movement in a southerly direction on mud-flats along the river edge. Early Pleistocene human fossils are extremely rare in Europe, with no evidence from the UK. The only known species in western Europe of a similar age is Homo antecessor, whose fossil remains have been found at Atapuerca, Spain. The foot sizes and estimated stature of the hominins from Happisburgh fall within the range derived from the fossil evidence of Homo antecessor.

2010 New Daily.

Flint tools found in an English village show ancient humans settled northern Europe 800,000 years ago, far earlier than previously thought, which could prompt scientists to reassess the capabilities of early humans.

An excavation in the eastern coastal village of Happisburgh reported in the journal Nature revealed over 70 flint tools, probably to cut wood or meat, and provides the first record of human occupation on the edges of the cooler northern forests of Eurasia.

“These finds are by far the earliest known evidence of humans in Britain, dating at least 100,000 years earlier than previous discoveries,” said Chris Stringer, a specialist in human origins at London’s Natural History Museum, who gave a briefing about the research.

2007 Channel 4 in England.

In 2001, ex-policeman and amateur archaeologist Mike Chambers made a discovery that would help push back the earliest known date for human activity in Britain by several hundred thousand years. For sticking out of the seabed off the Norfolk coast at Happisburgh, he found a hand axe – one of the earliest artifacts made by humans ever discovered in northern Europe. …

Mike Chambers’ find coincided with the establishment of a large-scale research project, the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain (AHOB), bringing together archaeologists and scientists from a range of different disciplines and organizations to investigate this neglected period of prehistory. …

… As well as the Happisburgh site, where they found a second hand axe in 2004, a team of experts assembled by AHOB also investigated another site in East Anglia at Pakefield. This, too, had first been highlighted by amateurs, who had discovered what appeared to be a tiny fragment of worked flint in situ in the same beds as a large collection of animal bones.

Over the course of the next few years, AHOB’s excavations turned up more than 30 such flint flakes and one flint core from four different contexts at Pakefield. This suggested that humans were regular visitors to a landscape that experts had previously believed to have been devoid of human activity.

The Pakefield flints were found in sediments that contained large quantities of microscopic mammal bones. It was these that enabled scientists to date the flints. In particular, AHOB used what is often referred to by scientists as the ‘vole clock’, which featured in a previous Time Team program at Elveden in the 2000 series. Simon Parfitt identified a species of Mimomys vole among the Pakefield sediments. This is known to have died out in European Russia before MIS16, an extremely severe cold period, and together with other mammal deposits enabled AHOB to date the flint finds to around 700,000 years ago.

See also timesonline.

2005 Nature.

Abstract
The colonization of Eurasia by early humans is a key event after their spread out of Africa, but the nature, timing and ecological context of the earliest human occupation of northwest Europe is uncertain and has been the subject of intense debate. . . .Until now, the earliest uncontested artifacts from northern Europe were much younger, suggesting that humans were unable to colonize northern latitudes until about 500 kyr ago. Here we report flint artifacts from the Cromer Forest-bed Formation at Pakefield (52° N), Suffolk, UK, from an interglacial sequence yielding a diverse range of plant and animal fossils. Event and lithostratigraphy, palaeomagnetism, amino acid geochronology and biostratigraphy indicate that the artifacts date to the early part of the Brunhes Chron (about 700 kyr ago) and thus represent the earliest unequivocal evidence for human presence north of the Alps.

[This topic was originally prepared as a UBtheNEWS Report on July 31, 2008 with special thanks to Chris Halvorson, Ph.D., Fred Harris, J.D., and Donna Whelan.]