Researchers at University College London have discovered some of the largest early prehistoric stone tools in Britain. The discoveries were made at Frindsbury in Kent where artefacts were recovered from deep Ice Age deposits above the Medway Valley. A total of eight hundred stone artefacts believed to be over 300,000 years old were recovered.
The unearthed artefacts included
two very large flint knives described as “giant handaxes.” It is thought that
this type of tool was usually held in the hand and may have been used for
butchering animals and cutting meat.
The largest handaxe measured
29.5cm in length and is currently the third largest known to be found in
Britain. ‘Giant handaxes’ like this are usually found in the Thames and Medway
regions and date from over 300,000 years ago.
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One of the handaxes at the point of discovery on site. Credit: Archaeology South-East/ UCL |
Letty Ingrey, a senior archaeologist from the University College London Institute of Archaeology, explained that they likely date back to an interglacial period approximately 300,000 to 330,000 years ago.
“While right now, we aren’t
sure why such large tools were being made, or which species of early human were
making them, this site offers a chance to answer these exciting questions.”
stated Ms Ingrey.
The site is thought to date to a
period in the early prehistory of Britain when Neanderthal people and their
cultures were beginning to emerge and may even have shared the landscape with
other early human species. During this period the Medway Valley would have been
a wild landscape of wooded hills and river valleys, where red deer, horses,
now-extinct straight-tusked elephants, and lions roamed freely.
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Excavations revealed artefacts in deep Ice Age sediments preserved on a hillside above the Medway Valley.
Credit: Archaeology South-East/ UCL
This exceptionally large axe may have had a specialised function in early human society, or relate to specific human groups, or even human species. Handaxes are stone artefacts that have been chipped, or knapped, on both sides to produce a symmetrical shape with a long cutting edge.
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Throughout Africa and Europe,
handaxes have been discovered at various archaeological sites dating back from
1.7 million to 300,000 years ago. By 200,000 years ago, many innovations had
been made in stone tool technology. For example, large handaxes became less
common and were replaced with a range of smaller tools in more diverse
toolkits. Tools made of flakes were favoured over large cores.
Today, modern humans or Homo sapiens,
inhabit the whole earth. Looking back over the last half a million years, the
picture was much more diverse, with three distinct lineages appearing: Homo
erectus in Asia; and Homo heidelbergensis giving rise to Homo neanderthalensis
in Europe and Homo sapiens in Africa.
The Neanderthals thrived in
Europe for around 300,000 years before modern humans arrived. Neanderthals
occupied Europe for at least 100,000 years during a period when glacial cycles
dominated the climate. Excavations in Ibex, Vanguard, and Gorham’s Caves in
Gibraltar have revealed evidence of Neanderthal occupation dating to possibly
as late as 28,000 years ago.
The ancestors of modern humans
interbred with Neanderthals and another extinct line of humans known as the
Denisovans. Modern humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans shared a common ancestor
who lived roughly 600,000 years ago.
For further information see:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2023/jul/giant-stone-artefacts-found-rare-ice-age-site-kent
https://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue61/6/full-text.html
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-66112136
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