‘Giant’ 300,000-year-old handaxes unearthed in Kent

Researchers have discovered some of the largest early prehistoric stone tools in Britain, including a foot-long handaxe almost too big to be handled.

The excavations, which took place in Kent, revealed prehistoric artefacts in deep ice age sediments preserved on a hillside above Medway Valley.

The researchers, from UCL Archaeology South-East, discovered 800 stone artefacts, thought to be more than 300,000 years old, buried in material that filled a sinkhole and ancient river channel.

Two large flint knives described as giant handaxes were among the discoveries.

Handaxes are stone artefacts that have been chipped, or knapped, on both sides to produce a symmetrical shape with a long cutting edge.

It is believed this type of tool was usually held in the hand and may have been used for butchering animals and cutting meat.

The two largest handaxes found at the site have a distinctive shape with a long, finely worked, pointed tip and a much thicker base.

Letty Ingrey, a senior geo-archaeologist at the UCL Institute of Archaeology, said: “We describe these tools as ‘giants’ when they are over 22cm long and we have two in this size range. The biggest, a colossal 29.5cm in length, is one of the longest ever found in Britain.

“Giant handaxes like this are usually found in the Thames and Medway regions and date from over 300,000 years ago. These handaxes are so big it’s difficult to imagine how they could have been easily held and used.

“Perhaps they fulfilled a less practical or more symbolic function than other tools, a clear demonstration of strength and skill. 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.”

The site is thought to date to a period in the early prehistory of Britain when Neanderthal people and their cultures were emerging and may even have shared the landscape with other early human species.

At this time Medway Valley would have been a wild landscape of wooded hills and river valleys. It would have been inhabited by red deer and horses, as well as less familiar mammals, such as the now extinct straight-tusked elephant and lion.

Although archaeological finds of this age have been found in the area before, this is the first time they have been found as part of large-scale excavation.

Dr Matt Pope, from the UCL Institute of Archaeology, said the excavations provided “an incredibly valuable opportunity to study how an entire ice age landscape developed over a quarter of a million years ago”.

“A programme of scientific analysis, involving specialists from UCL and other UK institutions, will now help us to understand why the site was important to ancient people and how the stone artefacts, including the giant handaxes, helped them adapt to the challenges of ice age environments.”

The team made a second significant find at the site – a Roman cemetery, dating to at least a quarter of a million years later than the ice age activity.

Researchers suggest the people buried there between the first and fourth centuries AD could have been the inhabitants of a possible nearby villa, about 850 metres to the south.

The remains of 25 individuals, 13 of whom were cremated, were found. Nine of the buried bodies were found with goods or personal items including bracelets, and four were interred in wooden coffins.

Collections of pottery and animal bones found nearby are likely to be linked to feasting rituals at the time of burial.

The excavations were commissioned in advance of development of the Maritime academy school in Frindsbury. The findings are published in the Internet Archaeology journal.