LONDON (AP).- Ancient man ventured into northern Europe far earlier than previously thought, settling on England’s east coast more than 800,000 years ago, scientists said. It had been assumed that humans — thought to have emerged from Africa around 1.75 million years ago — kept mostly to relatively warm tropical forests, steppes and Mediterranean areas as they spread across Eurasia. But the discovery of a collection of flint tools some 135 miles (220 kilometers) northeast of London shows that quite early on man braved colder climes. “What we found really undermines traditional views about how humans spread and reacted to climate change,” said Simon Parfitt, a University College London researcher. “It just shows how little we know about the movement out of Africa.” About 75 flint tools have been found at the site near Happisburgh, a seaside hamlet in Norfolk, Parfitt and colleagues report in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature. The researchers dated the artifacts to