Eartham Pit, Boxgrove

The Boxgrove Palaeolithic site is a complex of internationally important Lower Palaeolithic archaeological sites in the former Eartham Quarry, north-east of Boxgrove in West Sussex, dating to around 480,000 years ago during the Middle Pleistocene [1]. Boxgrove is also one of the oldest sites in Europe with direct evidence of hunting and butchering by early humans [1]. The site was discovered by Andrew Woodcock and Roy Shephard-Thorn in 1974 [1]. Parts of the site complex were later excavated between 1982 and 1996 by a team led by Mark Roberts of the Institute of Archaeology, University College London [1]. The site is now some 10 kilometres inland and 35–43.5 metres above present sea level, because of later tectonic uplift of the area after the deposition of the Boxgrove site [1]. Numerous species of animals, including snails, fish, lizards, amphibians including frogs and salamanders, and 50 species of mammals have been found at the site [1].