Boxgrove Quarry
Encyclopedia
Boxgrove Quarry is a gravel quarry and Lower Palaeolithic archaeological
site
at Boxgrove
in the British
-English
county of West Sussex
. It has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest
. When first excavated it was considered to show the oldest evidence of humans in Britain, although more recently much older evidence has been discovered.
Parts of the site complex were excavated between 1983 and 1996 by a team led by Mark Roberts
of the Institute of Archaeology
, University College London
. The site is situated in an area that features a buried chalk cliff that overlooked a flat beach (which contained a waterhole) stretching around half a mile (1 km) south to the sea.
bones which 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.
Numerous Acheulean
flint tools and remains of animals dating to around 500,000 years ago were found at the site. Some of the bones were found to display cut marks, 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 lions, bears, rhinos and giant deer, as well as numerous smaller animals such as frogs, voles and birds. Comparison with ethnographic and experimental examples of stone-tool-assisted butchery has shown that game animals at Boxgrove were expertly butchered, 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 shoulderblade with a semicircular hole that has been interpreted as a projectile impact mark. No obvious hunting equipment has been found.
Remains of Homo heidelbergensis
were first found on the site in 1994, comprising the partial tibia
of a male who probably stood 1.8m high and weighed around 80 kg. Significantly, this is the only postcranial hominid bone to have been found in Northern Europe (in other words, coming from anywhere other than the skull). 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 1996 two incisor
teeth from another individual were found. These show evidence of severe periodontal disease and show tool cut marks, which are thought to have been caused by use of flint tools near the mouth rather than indicate cannibalism.
In 2003 English Heritage
announced it would buy the remains of the quarry to ensure the preservation of the site complex.
The Palaeolithic archaeologist A.M. Chadwick mentioned that site director Mark Roberts "is a noted shooting and fishing man, and whilst I was at Boxgrove in 1988, wild game constituted a substantial part of the menu (even including a seagull on one memorable and not too successful occasion!)."
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.
that was 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. One reviewer of the book, A.M. Chadwick, noted that within it:
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
site
Archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place in which evidence of past activity is preserved , and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and represents a part of the archaeological record.Beyond this, the definition and geographical extent of a 'site' can vary widely,...
at Boxgrove
Boxgrove
Boxgrove is a village and civil parish in the Chichester District of the English county of West Sussex, about five kilometres north east of the city of Chichester. The village is just south of the A285 road which follows the line of the Roman road Stane Street.The parish has an area of...
in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
county of West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
. It has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
. When first excavated it was considered to show the oldest evidence of humans in Britain, although more recently much older evidence has been discovered.
Parts of the site complex were excavated between 1983 and 1996 by a team led by Mark Roberts
Mark Roberts (archaeologist)
Mark Brian Roberts is an English archaeologist specialising in the study of the Palaeolithic. He is best known for his discovery and subsequent excavations at the Lower Palaeolithic site of Boxgrove Quarry in southern England. He is also a teacher and Senior Research Fellow of the Institute of...
of the Institute of Archaeology
Institute of Archaeology
The UCL Institute of Archaeology is an academic department of the Social & Historical Sciences Faculty of University College London , England. It is one of the largest departments of archaeology in the world, with over 80 members of academic staff and 500 students...
, University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
. The site is situated in an area that features a buried chalk cliff that overlooked a flat beach (which contained a waterhole) stretching around half a mile (1 km) south to the sea.
History
The site is important for many reasons, including the degree of preservation of the landscape, the impressive size of the undisturbed ancient land surface, its huge quantity of well-preserved animal bones, its numerous flint artifacts, and its hominidHominidae
The Hominidae or include them .), as the term is used here, form a taxonomic family, including four extant genera: chimpanzees , gorillas , humans , and orangutans ....
bones which 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
Great Auk
The Great Auk, Pinguinus impennis, formerly of the genus Alca, was a large, flightless alcid that became extinct in the mid-19th century. It was the only modern species in the genus Pinguinus, a group of birds that formerly included one other species of flightless giant auk from the Atlantic Ocean...
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.
Numerous Acheulean
Acheulean
Acheulean is the name given to an archaeological industry of stone tool manufacture associated with early humans during the Lower Palaeolithic era across Africa and much of West Asia, South Asia and Europe. Acheulean tools are typically found with Homo erectus remains...
flint tools and remains of animals dating to around 500,000 years ago were found at the site. Some of the bones were found to display cut marks, 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
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
. They shared the area with a wide variety of animals whose bones have been found there, including lions, bears, rhinos and giant deer, as well as numerous smaller animals such as frogs, voles and birds. Comparison with ethnographic and experimental examples of stone-tool-assisted butchery has shown that game animals at Boxgrove were expertly butchered, 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 shoulderblade with a semicircular hole that has been interpreted as a projectile impact mark. No obvious hunting equipment has been found.
Remains of Homo heidelbergensis
Homo heidelbergensis
Homo heidelbergensis is an extinct species of the genus Homo which may be the direct ancestor of both Homo neanderthalensis in Europe and Homo sapiens. The best evidence found for these hominins date between 600,000 and 400,000 years ago. H...
were first found on the site in 1994, comprising the partial tibia
Tibia
The tibia , shinbone, or shankbone is the larger and stronger of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates , and connects the knee with the ankle bones....
of a male who probably stood 1.8m high and weighed around 80 kg. Significantly, this is the only postcranial hominid bone to have been found in Northern Europe (in other words, coming from anywhere other than the skull). 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 1996 two incisor
Incisor
Incisors are the first kind of tooth in heterodont mammals. They are located in the premaxilla above and mandible below.-Function:...
teeth from another individual were found. These show evidence of severe periodontal disease and show tool cut marks, which are thought to have been caused by use of flint tools near the mouth rather than indicate cannibalism.
In 2003 English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
announced it would buy the remains of the quarry to ensure the preservation of the site complex.
Excavation
Roberts went on to gain a name for himself in the archaeological community as site director of the Boxgrove project.The Palaeolithic archaeologist A.M. Chadwick mentioned that site director Mark Roberts "is a noted shooting and fishing man, and whilst I was at Boxgrove in 1988, wild game constituted a substantial part of the menu (even including a seagull on one memorable and not too successful occasion!)."
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
The Specials
The Specials are an English 2 Tone ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry, England. Their music combines a "danceable ska and rocksteady beat with punk's energy and attitude", and had a "more focused and informed political and social stance" than other ska groups...
' 1979 song "Too Much Too Young
Specials (album)
Specials is the debut album by British ska revival band The Specials.Released in 1979 on Jerry Dammers' 2Tone label, the album is seen by some as the defining moment in the UK ska scene...
" to himself when thinking about the project.
Publication
In 1998, Roberts co-wrote a book about the site with prehistoric archaeologist Michael PittsMichael Pitts
Mike Pitts, who has occasionally written under the name of Michael Pitts, is an English freelance journalist and archaeologist who specialises in the study of British prehistory...
that was 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. One reviewer of the book, A.M. Chadwick, noted that within it:
- Mark Roberts, is given centre stage, but this is at the expense of other participants in the project. Almost prescient powers of perception and forward-thinking are attributed to Mark Roberts, and some of the book's more purple passages describe these… What we are presented is a picture of a lone archaeological warrior battling against the archaeological establishment. Whilst this may have been true of the project's early years, modern multidisciplinary research projects simply do not work like that.