Boxgrove Man

The Boxgrove Man Project 

When excavations began in 1982 at the Eartham quarry site near Boxgrove, flint tools 500,000 years old were discovered, which at that time was the oldest evidence of humans ever discovered in the UK.

The site remains a site of international archaeological importance because of the discovery in 1993/95 of 500,000 year old early human fossils, which remain the oldest such fossils ever discovered in the UK.  The Boxgrove Man stood at approximately 5 ft 10 inches high and weighing in at 80 kgs (just over 12.5 stone).

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 artefacts, and the geology of the landscape gives a very complete picture of the coastal plain as it existed half a million years ago.

More information can be found at the website of The Boxgrove Project now being run by University College London.

The original painting below was kindly donated to Boxgrove Village Hall. which is an artists impression of the area half a million years ago.   The artist is unknown to date, if anybody knows who did the painting, please let the village hall know.