The oldest human remains ever found in Northern Britain have been identified as a young female three years after being discovered in a Cumbrian cave.

Excavated at Heaning Wood Bone Cave in Cumbria’s Great Urswick by local archaeologist Martin Stables, the 11,000-year-old bones provided clear evidence of Mesolithic burials in the North.

Now, an international team led by archaeologists at the University of Lancashire were able to extract enough DNA from the bones to identify the remains as a female child aged between 2.5 and 3.5-years-old.

“It is the first time we have been able to be so specific about the age of a child whose remains are so old and be certain that they are from a female,” said lead researcher Dr Rick Peterson.

The team has also determined that these remains are the third oldest Mesolithic burial in North West Europe and present some of the earliest dates for human activity in Britain after the end of the last Ice Age. Jewellery discovered at the same site more recently includes a perforated deer tooth and more beads that have been carbon dated to 11,000 years-old.

“Dating the jewellery to the same time frame as the remains provides more evidence that this was a deliberate burial and opens up conversations about the significance of cave burials during this period,” added Rick.

“Modern hunter-gatherer groups often see caves as a gateway into the spirit world, and this may be why we see so many caves used for burial by Early Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in northern Europe.”

Local archaeologist Martin Stables carried out the excavations at the site and being from Great Urswick himself, he was keen the Mesolithic girls remains were named to bind her and her resting place together forever. Hence naming her the ‘Ossick Lass’, which in the local vernacular simply means Urswick girl.

Martin is entirely self-taught as an archaeologist, driven by his desire to know more about the prehistoric past of the village.

He said: “It’s nearly 10 years since I started the excavations in July 2016 and I couldn’t have envisaged the journey I have undertaken. It’s as if I’ve went back in time to 9,000 BC.

“In doing so I travelled through the Bronze and Neolithic Ages, discovering some of those that lived then and what they left behind. Ultimately, reaching the Mesolithic Period has obviously become the highlight of the excavation and something that’s particularly poignant to myself. Effectively, I was the first to bear witness to the obviously caring burial of someone’s child that occurred over 11,000 years ago.

“The publication of this research paper is an important stage, that in due course, allows us to reveal further information about this unique site of national importance. My journey continues, but in the present as this is just the beginning and there is much more we plan to tell.”

Earlier human remains are known from southern England and from Wales, but the destructive effect of past glaciations means that such finds are rare in northern Britain. Before this discovery, the ‘earliest northerner’ was a 10,000-years-old burial from the nearby Kent’s Bank Cavern discovered in 2013.

Alongside the 11,000 year-old remains, the University team proved that at least eight different people were buried in the cave with evidence showing they were all deliberate burials. All are from three different dates in the prehistoric past; around 4,000-years-ago in the Early Bronze Age; approximately 5,500-years-ago in the Early Neolithic; and around 11,000-years-ago during the very early part of the Mesolithic period.

A research paper about the discovery and DNA analysis is published in the Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society Journal.