Meat-cutting tools prove Neanderthals inhabited Kent 100,000 years ago
June 2nd, 2010 - 12:47 pm ICT by ANILondon, June 2 (ANI): University of Southampton researchers have claimed that the Neanderthal man was living in Britain at the start of the last ice age.
This means that they were residing in Britain 40,000 years earlier than previously thought, archaeologists said.
Boffins came to the conclusion after Francis Wenban-Smith discovered two ancient flint hand tools used to cut meat at the M25/A2 road junction at Dartford, Kent, during an excavation funded by the Highways Agency.
Tests on sediment burying the flints showed they date from around 100,000 years ago - proving Neanderthals were living in Britain at this time, reports The Telegraph.
‘I couldn’t believe my eyes when I received the test results,’ said Dr Wenban-Smith.
‘We know that Neanderthals inhabited Northern France at this time, but this new evidence suggests that as soon as sea levels dropped, and a ‘land bridge’ appeared across the English Channel, they made the journey by foot to Kent.’
It is believed that early pre-Neanderthals inhabited Britain before the last ice age, but were forced south by the severe cold about 200,000 years ago.
After the climate warmed up again between 130,000 and 110,000 years ago, they could not get back because, similar to today, the Channel sea-level was raised, which blocked their path.
The new finding showed they returned to Britain much earlier than 60,000 years ago, as previous evidence suggested.
David Score, Oxford Archaeology Project Manager, said: ‘The fieldwork uncovered a significant amount of activity at the Dartford site in the Bronze Age and Roman periods, but it is deeper trenches excavated through much older sediments which have yielded the most interesting results - shedding light on a long period when there was assumed to have been an absence of early man from Britain.’ (ANI)
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Tags: 100 000 years, archaeologists, archaeology project, bronze age, cutting tools, dartford kent, early man, fieldwork, flints, highways agency, land bridge, last ice age, m25, neanderthal man, neanderthals, northern france, roman periods, sea levels, southampton researchers, university of southampton