Oldbury Rock Shelters

The Oldbury Rock Shelters are a complex of Middle Palaeolithic sites on the slopes of Oldbury hillfort near Ightham, Kent, representing one of Britain's oldest prehistoric sites. Occupied by Neanderthal Mousterian flint tool makers around 50,000 years ago, the shelters yielded characteristic bout-coupe handaxes during 19th and 20th century excavations. The deposits date from the Early Devensian glacial period (45,000-30,000 years ago). They were discovered by Benjamin Harrison, a grocer from Ightham who recognized that ancient tools were particularly associated with the hill's greensand outcrops. The site is nationally important as rock shelters with surviving Palaeolithic deposits are rare in Britain and Europe.