Credit: Archaeology South-East/ UCL
Credit: Archaeology South-East/ UCL
The 2 largest handaxes discovered at the Maritime site have a distinct shape with a long and carefully worked pointed pointer, and a much thicker base.
Senior Archaeologist Letty Ingrey (UCL Institute of Archaeology), said: “We explain these tools as giants when they are over 22cm long and we have two in this size range. Giant handaxes like this are normally discovered in the Thames and Medway areas and date from over 300,000 years earlier.
Several flint stone handaxes, some round, some pointed and of various sizes, sit on a table. ASE Senior Archaeologist Letty Ingrey determines the biggest giant handaxe utilizing broad spring callipers. Credit: Archaeology South-East/ UCL
Archaeologists from UCL Institute of Archaeology have uncovered some of Britains biggest early prehistoric stone tools.
The dig, performed in Kent prior to the building and construction of the Maritime Academy School in Frindsbury, uncovered ancient artifacts embedded in deep Ice Age sediments protected on a hillside above the Medway Valley.
The scientists, from UCL Archaeology South-East, found 800 stone artifacts thought to be over 300,000 years of ages, buried in sediments that filled a sinkhole and ancient river channel, described in their research study, published in Internet Archaeology.
Picture of the biggest giant handaxe taken from 4 different angles. Credit: Archaeology South-East/ UCL
Among the unearthed artifacts were 2 extremely big flint knives explained as “giant handaxes”. The 2 largest handaxes discovered at the Maritime website have a distinct shape with a long and carefully worked pointed tip, and a much thicker base.
Senior Archaeologist Letty Ingrey (UCL Institute of Archaeology), stated: “We describe these tools as giants when they are over 22cm long and we have two in this size range. The biggest, an enormous 29.5 cm in length, is one of the longest ever discovered in Britain. Giant handaxes like this are normally found in the Thames and Medway regions and date from over 300,000 years back.
ASE Senior Archaeologist Letty Ingrey holds up among the handaxes on website. Credit: Archaeology South-East/ UCL
” These handaxes are so big its tough to envision how they might have been quickly held and utilized. Perhaps they fulfilled a less useful or more symbolic function than other tools, a clear presentation of strength and ability. While today, we arent sure why such big tools were being made, or which species of early people were making them, this site uses a chance to address these amazing questions.”
The site is thought to date to a duration in the early prehistory of Britain when Neanderthal people and their cultures were beginning to emerge and might even have shared the landscape with other early human species. The Medway Valley at this time would have been a wild landscape of woody hills and river valleys, inhabited by red deer and horses, as well as less familiar mammals such as the now-extinct straight-tusked elephant and lion.
Archaeologists excavating at the Maritime Academy School website in Frinsdbury. Credit: Archaeology South-East/ UCL
While archaeological finds of this age, including another spectacular giant handaxe, have actually been found in the Medway Valley before, this is the first time they have actually been found as part of massive excavation, providing the chance to obtain more insights into the lives of their makers.
Dr Matt Pope (UCL Institute of Archaeology), stated: “The excavations at the Maritime Academy have provided us an exceptionally valuable chance to study how an entire Ice Age landscape established over a quarter of a million years back. A program of scientific analysis, including experts from UCL and other UK organizations, will now assist us to comprehend why the site was essential to ancient people and how the stone artifacts, including the giant handaxes helped them adapt to the obstacles of the Ice Age environments.”
The research group is now dealing with identifying and studying the recuperated artifacts to much better comprehend who developed them and what they were utilized for.
Among the handaxes at the point of discovery on site. Credit: Archaeology South-East/ UCL
Senior Archaeologist Giles Dawkes (UCL Institute of Archaeology) is leading deal with a 2nd considerable discover from the website– a Roman cemetery, dating to at least a quarter of a million years later than the Ice Age activity. The people buried here between the fourth and first centuries advertisement could have been the inhabitants of a suspected nearby villa that might have lain around 850 meters to the south.
The team found the remains of 25 individuals, 13 of which were cremated. 9 of the buried people were found with goods or personal items consisting of bracelets, and four were interred in wooden caskets. Collections of pottery and animal bones found nearby likely associate with feasting rituals at the time of burial. Though Roman structures and structures have been thoroughly excavated, cemeteries have traditionally been less of a focus for archaeologists and the discovery of this site uses potentially brand-new insights into the burial custom-mades and customs of both the Romans who lived at the villa and those in the nearby town of Rochester.
Jody Murphy, Director of Education at the Thinking Schools Academy Trust said: “We, at Maritime Academy and the Thinking Schools Academy Trust, feel very lucky to be a part of this sensational discovery. We take fantastic pride in our connection to our local neighborhood and region, with much of our school identity linked to the history of Medway. We eagerly anticipate benefiting from this unique chance to teach our youths about these finds, developing a lasting tradition for those who came before us.”
Recommendation: “On the Discovery of a Late Acheulean Giant Handaxe from the Maritime Academy, Frindsbury, Kent” by Letty Ingrey, Sarah M. Duffy, Martin Bates, Andrew Shaw and Matt Pope, 6 July 2023, Internet Archaeology.DOI: 10.11141/ ia.61.6.
