Swanscombe Palaeolithic site
| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
 Monument marking the place where the first part of the skull was discovered in 1935 | |
| Location | Kent |
|---|---|
| Grid reference | TQ 597 742[1] |
| Interest | Geological |
| Area | 3.9 hectares (9.6 acres)[1] |
| Notification | 1988[1] |
| Location map | Magic Map |
Swanscombe Skull SiteorSwanscombe Heritage Parkis a 3.9-hectare (9.6-acre) geologicalSite of Special Scientific InterestinSwanscombe,north-westKent,England.[1][2]It contains twoGeological Conservation Reviewsites[3][4]and aNational Nature Reserve.[5]The park lies in a former gravel quarry, Barnfield Pit,[6]which is the most important site in the Swanscombe complex, alongside several other nearby pits.[7]
The area was already known for the finds of numerousPalaeolithic-erahandaxes—mostlyAcheuleanandClactonianartifacts, some as much as 400,000 years old—when in 1935/1936 work at Barnfield Pit uncovered twofossilised skull fragments.These fragments came to be known as the remains ofSwanscombe Manbut were later found to have belonged to a young woman.[8]The Swanscombe skull has been identified as earlyNeanderthal[9]or pre-Neanderthal,[10](sometimes asHomo cf. heidelbergensis[11]) dating to theHoxnian Interglacialaround 400,000 years ago.[6]
Animals found at the site include thestraight-tusked elephant(Palaeoloxodon antiquus),Irish elk(Megaloceros giganteus),fallow deer,red deer(Cervus elaphus),aurochs(Bos primigenius),Merck's rhinoceros(Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis), and thenarrow-nosed rhinoceros(Stephanorhinus hemitoechus),Barbary macaque(Macaca sylvanus),wild boar(Sus scrofa),Eurasian beaver(Castor fiber), as well as theEuropean rabbit(Oryctolagus cuniculus).[11][12]A small number (6, representing 1.3% of the total) of the bones found at Swanscombe show evidence of butchery by hominins.[11]The environment at the time of deposition has been suggested to be atemperate forestofoak,alderandhazel,with some grassy areas.[13]
The skull fragments were found in the lower middle terrace gravels at a depth of almost 8 metres (26 ft). They were found by Alvan T. Marston, an amateur archaeologist who visited the pit between quarrying operations to search for flint tools. A third fragment from the same skull was found in 1955 by Bertram andJohn Wymer.Swanscombe is one of only two sites in Britain that have yieldedLower Paleolithichuman fossils, the other beingBoxgrove Quarry,West Sussex, where 500,000-year-old leg bones and teeth ( "Boxgrove Man") have been found.
Further excavations, carried out between 1968 and 1972 by Dr John d'Arcy Waechter, uncovered more animal bone and flint tools and established the extent of the former shoreline on which the bones were found. Most of the bone finds are now in theNatural History Museumin London, with the stone finds at theBritish Museum.
The other keypaleolithicsites in the UK areHappisburgh,Pakefield,Pontnewydd,Kents Cavern,PavilandandGough's Cave.
See also
[edit]- Genetic history of the British Isles
- List of human evolution fossils
- List of prehistoric structures in Great Britain
- Prehistoric Britain
- Clacton spear
- Boxgrove Palaeolithic site
References
[edit]- ^abcd"Designated Sites View: Swanscombe Skull Site".Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England.Retrieved15 January2018.
- ^"Map of Swanscombe Skull Site".Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England.Archivedfrom the original on 4 March 2016.Retrieved15 January2018.
- ^"Swanscombe - Barnfield Pit (Quaternary of the Thames)".Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee.Archivedfrom the original on 12 January 2018.Retrieved12 January2018.
- ^"Barnfield Pit (Pleistocene Vertebrata)".Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee.Archivedfrom the original on 15 January 2018.Retrieved15 January2018.
- ^"Designated Sites View: Swanscombe Skull Site".National Nature Reserves. Natural England.Archivedfrom the original on 24 May 2018.Retrieved14 January2018.
- ^ab"Swanscombe Skull Site citation"(PDF).Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England.Archived(PDF)from the original on 2 January 2018.Retrieved15 January2018.
- ^White, Tom S.; Preece, Richard C.; Whittaker, John E. (June 2013)."Molluscan and ostracod successions from Dierden's Pit, Swanscombe: insights into the fluvial history, sea-level record and human occupation of the Hoxnian Thames".Quaternary Science Reviews.70:73–90.doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.03.007.
- ^Francis Wenban-Smith,InterpretationArchived2013-07-26 at theWayback Machine.Retrieved 6 May 2008
- ^Hendry, Lisa (15 December 2017)."First Britons".Natural History Museum.Archivedfrom the original on 4 August 2018.Retrieved17 April2019.
- ^Ashton, Nick (2017).Early Humans.London, UK: William Collins. p. 147.ISBN978-0-00-815035-8.
- ^abcSmith, Geoff M. (October 2013)."Taphonomic resolution and hominin subsistence behaviour in the Lower Palaeolithic: differing data scales and interpretive frameworks at Boxgrove and Swanscombe (UK)".Journal of Archaeological Science.40(10): 3754–3767.doi:10.1016/j.jas.2013.05.002.
- ^Ashton, Nick (July 2016)."The human occupation of Britain during the Hoxnian Interglacial".Quaternary International.409:41–53.doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.11.055.
- ^Key, Alastair; Deter, Chris; Muthana, Angela; Dolding-Smith, Jessica; McFarlane, Gina; Mahoney, Patrick (December 2020)."Rediscovery of fossils from the middle gravels and lower loam at Barnfield Pit, Swanscombe, Kent (UK)".Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.34:102668.doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102668.
External links
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