Ephemeral, Subfossil Mammalian, Avian and Hominid Footprints within Flandrian Sediment Exposures at Formby Point, Sefton Coast, North West England

Coastal erosion around Formby Point occasionally reveals in the upper intertidal-zone discontinuous, laminated ‘outcrops’ of Flandrian sediments that formed between 7,500 and 4,500 years ago. Within some strata, footprints of animals, birds and humans have been preserved. Once the footprints are exposed by the tides and longshore currents, those same natural forces bring about their inevitable destruction. In addition, a first millennium B.C., dune-edge peat stratum contains hoofprints of domestic oxen. This exposure is also being subjected to destructive coastline erosion. The footprints demonstrate how the Sefton Coast was populated in the past. Their importance to understanding the prehistory of the locality is outlined, as is the wider significance of ichnology to archaeological and palaeoenvironmental studies.