Boxgrove Palaeolithic site

The site is important for many reasons, including the degree of preservation of ancient land surfaces, the impressive total extent of the palaeolandscape beyond the quarries (over 26 km wide), its huge quantity of well-preserved animal bones, its numerous flint artifacts, and its hominin fossils that are among some of the most ancient found yet in Europe. Several of the animal bones are the oldest found specimens of their species, such as the wing bone of the great auk found at the site in 1989. The combination of bones, stone artifacts, and the geology of the landscape gives a very complete picture of the coastal plain as it existed half a million years ago.Pitts, M. & Roberts, M. "Fairweather Eden". Fromm International: New York, 1997. {{ISBN|0-88064-247-5}}

File:The Boxgrove Tibia.jpg

File:Boxgrove handaxe.jpg

File:Boxgrove flints.jpg]]

Numerous Acheulean flint tools and remains of animals dating to approximately 500,000 years ago were found at the site.{{Cite journal|date=2014-01-01|title=Late Acheulean technology and cognition at Boxgrove, UK|journal=Journal of Archaeological Science|language=en|volume=41|pages=576–590|doi=10.1016/j.jas.2013.10.001|issn=0305-4403|last1=Stout|first1=Dietrich|last2=Apel|first2=Jan|last3=Commander|first3=Julia|last4=Roberts|first4=Mark|bibcode=2014JArSc..41..576S }} Some of the bones of roe deer, rhinoceros (Stephanorhinus) and horse were found to display cut marks,{{Cite journal |last1=Bello |first1=Silvia M. |last2=Parfitt |first2=Simon A. |last3=Stringer |first3=Chris |date=September 2009 |title=Quantitative micromorphological analyses of cut marks produced by ancient and modern handaxes |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0305440309001368 |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=36 |issue=9 |pages=1869–1880 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2009.04.014|bibcode=2009JArSc..36.1869B |url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Geoff M. |date=October 2013 |title=Taphonomic resolution and hominin subsistence behaviour in the Lower Palaeolithic: differing data scales and interpretive frameworks at Boxgrove and Swanscombe (UK) |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0305440313001635 |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |language=en |volume=40 |issue=10 |pages=3754–3767 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2013.05.002|bibcode=2013JArSc..40.3754S |url-access=subscription }} and some of the tools bear use wear traces indicative of cutting meat, indicating that the site was used for butchery by some of the earliest occupants of the British Isles. They shared the area with a wide variety of animals whose bones have been found there, including lion, bear (Ursus deningeri{{Cite journal |last1=Lockey |first1=Annabelle L. |last2=Rodríguez |first2=Laura |last3=Martín-Francés |first3=Laura |last4=Arsuaga |first4=Juan Luis |last5=Bermúdez de Castro |first5=José María |last6=Crété |first6=Lucile |last7=Martinón-Torres |first7=María |last8=Parfitt |first8=Simon |last9=Pope |first9=Matt |last10=Stringer |first10=Chris |date=November 2022 |title=Comparing the Boxgrove and Atapuerca (Sima de los Huesos) human fossils: Do they represent distinct paleodemes? |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0047248422001130 |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |language=en |volume=172 |pages=103253 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103253|pmid=36162354 |bibcode=2022JHumE.17203253L }}), Hippopotamus{{Cite journal |last1=Preece |first1=Richard C. |last2=Parfitt |first2=Simon A. |date=August 2012 |title=The Early and early Middle Pleistocene context of human occupation and lowland glaciation in Britain and northern Europe |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040618212002765 |journal=Quaternary International |language=en |volume=271 |pages=6–28 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2012.04.018|bibcode=2012QuInt.271....6P |url-access=subscription }} and giant deer (Praemegaceros), as well as numerous smaller animals such as frog, voles (Microtus, Arvicola Pliomys), and birds.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.archaeology.co.uk/articles/specials/timeline/boxgrove.htm|title=500000 BC - Boxgrove |journal= Current Archaeology|date=24 May 2007|access-date=23 April 2019}} Comparison with ethnographic and experimental examples of stone-tool-assisted butchery has shown that game animals at Boxgrove were butchered expertly, and it is likely that the variety of animal life in the area attracted human hunters.

Evidence for hunting is, however, tentative, consisting primarily of a horse shoulder blade with a semicircular hole that has been interpreted as the mark of a projectile impact. Given that wooden spears decay very quickly, it is no surprise that no hunting equipment has been found on the site. As well, it is a fact that wooden spears do not generally cause great damage to the bony areas of impact such as the pelvis. Thus, the horse shoulder blade mark is a rare piece of evidence of hunting activity.

Remains of an archaic human provisionally thought to be a member of the Homo heidelbergensis subspecies were first found on the site in 1993, comprising the partial tibia of a human who probably stood 1.8m high and weighed approximately 80 kg.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/prehistoric_life/human/human_evolution/first_europeans1.shtml|title=BBC - Science & Nature - The evolution of man|website=www.bbc.co.uk|access-date=2018-01-30}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/archaeology-boxgrove-man-reveals-his-stone-age-old-secrets-1424281.html|title=ARCHAEOLOGY: Boxgrove Man reveals his Stone Age-old secrets|date=1994-06-22|work=The Independent|access-date=2018-01-30|language=en-GB}}{{Cite journal |last=Eiland |first=Murray |date=2020 |others=Interview with Chris Stringer |title=Out of Africa, Neanderthals, and Mitochondrial Eve |url=https://www.academia.edu/89136731 |journal=Antiqvvs |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=42}} Significantly, this is the only postcranial element of Homo heidelbergensis to have been found in northern Europe (postcranial indicates bones coming from anywhere other than the skull, considered the top or leading bone of the body). The tibia is extremely robust for its size and may be an indication of high running activity, presumably in tracking an animal after it has been speared. Cold adaptation is another possible reason for the robust quality. Both ends of the bone show signs of gnawing, possibly by a wolf, suggesting that perhaps the Boxgrove hominids were sometimes prey to other animals. In 1995 two incisor teeth from another individual hominid were found. These show evidence of severe periodontal disease and they also show tool cut marks, which are thought to have been caused by use of flint tools near the mouth rather than indicating cannibalism.

In 2003 English Heritage announced it would buy the western quarry (known as Quarry 1) to ensure the preservation of the site complex.{{cite journal|title=Research and Conservation framework for the British palaeolithic|publisher=English Heritage|url=https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/filearea.cgi?LMGT1=MMHRF-PALAEOLITHIC&a=get&f=/GB_palaeo_research_framwork2008.pdf|access-date=1 November 2010|page=9|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190709115615/https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/filearea.cgi?LMGT1=MMHRF-PALAEOLITHIC&a=get&f=/GB_palaeo_research_framwork2008.pdf|archive-date=9 July 2019|journal=|url-status=live}}

In August 2020 archaeologists said they had discovered the earliest bone tools ever found in Europe at the site.Fox, Alex, [https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/europes-earliest-bone-tools-hint-early-hominin-sophistication-180975564/ Europe’s Oldest Bone Tools Hint at Early Hominin Sophistication], Smithsonian, August 14, 2020 They said that it provides further evidence that early human populations at Boxgrove were cognitively, socially, and culturally sophisticated.Europe's earliest bone tools found in Britain, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-53743766M Pope, S Parfitt, M Roberts, The Horse Butchery Site,Spoilheap Publications, {{ISBN|978-1912331154}}

The Boxgrove site was first discovered by the archaeologist Andrew Woodcock and the geologist Roy Shephard-Thorn in 1974. During the first stages of gravel extraction, their investigations showed a series of marine deposits, overlain by gravels, were preserved within the quarry. Woodcock recorded exceptionally well preserved Acheulean artefacts and mammalian fauna at the intersection between these sediments and determined the potential importance of the site.{{cite book |last1=Woodcock |first1=Andrew |title=The lower and middle Palaeolithic periods in Sussex |date=1981 |publisher=B.A.R |location=Oxford |isbn=9780860541455}}

{{Quote box|width=246px|bgcolor=#c6dbf7|align=right|quote="Boxgrove is simply one of the great Early Palaeolithic/Middle Pleistocene sites in the world, this statement has nothing to do with ego or anything else personal to myself - it just is. The quality of preservation, the range and depth of its myriad lines of multidisciplinary evidence are beyond nearly all other sites."|source=Mark Roberts (2011)Kontonicolas, Ali and Roberts 2011. p. 13.}}

Between 1982 and 1996 a series of excavations were undertaken at the site by the UCL Institute of Archaeology with funding from Historic England. The excavations were directed by Mark Roberts of the UCL Institute of Archaeology, with successive co-direction by Martin Bates and Simon Parfitt.{{cite book |last1=Pitts |first1=Michael W. |title=Fairweather Eden : life in Britain half a million years ago as revealed by the excavations at Boxgrove |date=1997 |publisher=Century Books |location=London |isbn=9780712676861}}

In 2011, Roberts told interviewers from the student-produced archaeological magazine Artifact that Boxgrove was "a fickle mistress indeed" and that whilst he wouldn't change his experience in investigating the site, the excavations "extracted a very heavy price" from him, "a price that I am only just at the point of paying the final instalment on". For this reason he found that he often hummed The Specials' 1979 song "Too Much Too Young" to himself when thinking about the project.Kontonicolas, Ali and Roberts 2011. pp. 12-13.

File:Butchered rhinoceros bone from Boxgrove.jpg

File:Selection of Palaeolithic tools from Boxgrove.jpg]]

In addition to over twenty scientific papers, the site is published through two monographs:

Boxgrove: A Middle Pleistocene Hominid Site at Eartham Quarry, Boxgrove, West Sussex. Edited by Mark Roberts and Simon Parfitt [http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/eh_monographs_2014/contents.cfm?mono=1089054%20 Boxgrove: A Middle Pleistocene hominid site at Eartham Quarry, Boxgrove, West Sussex] is now available through the Archaeology Data Service.{{cite book |last1=Roberts |first1=Mark |title=Boxgrove : a Middle Pleistocene hominid site at Eartham Quarry, Boxgrove, West Sussex |date=1999 |publisher=English Heritage |location=London |isbn=9781850746706}}

The Horse Butchery Site: A High Resolution Record of Lower Palaeolithic Hominin Behaviour at Boxgrove, UK. Edited by Matthew Pope, Simon Parfitt and Mark Roberts.{{cite book |last1=Pope |first1=Matthew |title=The Horse Butchery Site : A high-resolution record of Lower Palaeolithic hominin behaviour at Boxgrove, UK |date=2020 |publisher=Spoilheap |location=Portslade |isbn=9781912331154}}

In 1998, Roberts co-wrote a book about the site with prehistoric archaeologist Mike Pitts that is entitled Fairweather Eden: Life in Britain half a million years ago as revealed by the excavations at Boxgrove. Published by Arrow Books, Fairweather Eden was designed for a popular audience.

• Gough's Cave
• Genetic history of the British Isles
• Happisburgh
• Kents Cavern
• List of human evolution fossils
• List of prehistoric structures in Great Britain
• Prehistoric Britain
• Paviland
• Pontnewydd
• Swanscombe

;Footnotes

{{Reflist|30em}}

;Bibliography

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book |title= Fairweather Eden: Life in Britain half a million years ago as revealed by the excavations at Boxgrove |last= Pitts, Michael and Roberts, Mark |year= 1998 |publisher= Arrow |location= London |isbn=978-0-09-964491-0 |ref=Piy98}}
• {{cite journal|title= Disco in Boxgrove |author1=Kontonicolas, MaryAnn |author2=Ali, Irrum |year= 2011 |journal=Artifact Magazine |volume=01 |pages=12–13 |ref=KonAli01}}

{{refend}}

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{{SSSIs West Sussex }}

{{Homo heidelbergensis|state=collapsed}}

Category:History of West Sussex

Category:Stone Age sites in England

Category:Archaeological sites in West Sussex

Category:Sites of Special Scientific Interest in West Sussex

Category:Paleoanthropological sites

Category:Paleolithic Europe

Category:Geological Conservation Review sites