Swanscombe Heritage Park
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 Site or Swanscombe Heritage Park is a 3.9-hectare (9.6-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Swanscombe, north-west Kent, England.[1][2] It contains two Geological Conservation Review sites[3][4] and a National Nature Reserve.[5] The park lies in a former gravel quarry, Barnfield Pit.[6]
The area was already known for the finds of numerous Palaeolithic-era handaxes—mostly Acheulean and Clactonian artifacts, some as much as 400,000 years old—when in 1935/1936 work at Barnfield Pit uncovered two fossilised skull fragments. These fragments came to be known as the remains of Swanscombe Man but were later found to have belonged to a young woman.[7] The Swanscombe skull has been identified as early Neanderthal[8] or pre-Neanderthal,[9] dating to the Hoxnian Interglacial around 400,000 years ago.[6]
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 and John Wymer. Swanscombe is one of only two sites in Britain that have yielded Lower Paleolithic human fossils, the other being Boxgrove 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 the Natural History Museum in London, with the stone finds at the British Museum.
The other key paleolithic sites in the UK are Happisburgh, Pakefield, Pontnewydd, Kents Cavern, Paviland and Gough's Cave.
See also
- Genetic history of the British Isles
- List of human evolution fossils
- List of prehistoric structures in Great Britain
- Prehistoric Britain
References
- ^ a b c d "Designated Sites View: Swanscombe Skull Site". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
- ^ "Map of Swanscombe Skull Site". Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
- ^ "Swanscombe - Barnfield Pit (Quaternary of the Thames)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Archived from the original on 12 January 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
- ^ "Barnfield Pit (Pleistocene Vertebrata)". Geological Conservation Review. Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Archived from the original on 15 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
- ^ "Designated Sites View: Swanscombe Skull Site". National Nature Reserves. Natural England. Archived from the original on 24 May 2018. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
- ^ a b "Swanscombe Skull Site citation" (PDF). Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
- ^ Francis Wenban-Smith, Interpretation Archived 2013-07-26 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 6 May 2008
- ^ Hendry, Lisa (15 December 2017). "First Britons". Natural History Museum. Archived from the original on 4 August 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
- ^ Ashton, Nick (2017). Early Humans. London, UK: William Collins. p. 147. ISBN 978-0-00-815035-8.
External links
- Official website
- v
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- e
- Alex Farm Pastures
- Alkham, Lydden and Swingfield Woods
- Bourne Alder Carr
- Brookland Wood
- Charing Beech Hangers
- Chattenden Woods and Lodge Hill
- Chequer's Wood and Old Park
- Church Woods, Blean
- Cobham Woods
- Combwell Wood
- Cowden Meadow
- Cowden Pound Pastures
- Darenth Wood
- Dover to Kingsdown Cliffs
- Down Bank
- Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay
- East Blean Woods
- Ellenden Wood
- Farningham Wood
- Folkestone to Etchinghill Escarpment
- Folkestone Warren
- Gibbin's Brook
- Great Crabbles Wood
- Great Shuttlesfield Down
- Halling to Trottiscliffe Escarpment
- Ham Street Woods
- Hatch Park
- Hoad's Wood
- Holborough to Burham Marshes
- Hollingbourne Downs
- Hothfield Common
- Ileden and Oxenden Woods
- Knole Park
- Larkey Valley Wood
- Lullingstone Park
- Lydden and Temple Ewell Downs
- Lympne Escarpment
- Lynsore Bottom
- Magpie Bottom
- Marden Meadows
- Medway Estuary and Marshes
- Northward Hill
- Oldbury and Seal Chart
- One Tree Hill and Bitchet Common
- Orlestone Forest
- Otford to Shoreham Downs
- Park Wood, Chilham
- Parkgate Down
- Parsonage Wood
- Peter's Pit
- Polebrook Farm
- Preston Marshes
- Purple Hill
- Queendown Warren
- River Beult
- Robins Wood
- Sandwich Bay to Hacklinge Marshes
- Scord's Wood and Brockhoult Mount
- Scotney Castle
- Seabrook Stream
- Sevenoaks Gravel Pits
- Sheppey Cliffs and Foreshore
- Shorne and Ashenbank Woods
- Sissinghurst Park Wood
- South Thames Estuary and Marshes
- Stodmarsh
- The Swale
- Tankerton Slopes
- Thanet Coast
- Trottiscliffe Meadows
- West Blean and Thornden Woods
- Westerham Mines
- Westerham Wood
- Wouldham to Detling Escarpment
- Wye and Crundale Downs
- Yockletts Bank
- Allington Quarry
- Aylesford Pit
- Baker's Hole
- Chequer's Wood and Old Park
- Dalham Farm
- Dover to Kingsdown Cliffs
- Dryhill
- Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay
- Folkestone to Etchinghill Escarpment
- Folkestone Warren
- Greatness Brickworks
- Hart Hill
- High Rocks
- Houlder and Monarch Hill Pits, Upper Halling
- Hubbard's Hill
- Lenham Quarry
- Oaken Wood
- Otterpool Quarry
- Pembury Cutting and Pit
- Rusthall Common
- Sandwich Bay to Hacklinge Marshes
- Sheppey Cliffs and Foreshore
- Southborough Pit
- Spot Lane Quarry
- Sturry Pit
- Swanscombe Skull Site
- Thanet Coast
- Tower Hill to Cockham Wood
- Wansunt Pit
- Wateringbury
- Wouldham to Detling Escarpment
- Wye and Crundale Downs
51°26′44.12″N 0°17′56.80″E / 51.4455889°N 0.2991111°E / 51.4455889; 0.2991111