page_title: Eartham Pit, Boxgrove
hierarchical_section_title: Eartham Pit, Boxgrove
caption_attribution_description: English: One of the hundreds of handaxes discovered by archaeological excavation at Boxgrove; this one found in 2011.
context_page_description: Boxgrove Quarry, once a gravel quarry, is now a Palaeolithic archaeological site. It is at Boxgrove in the English county of West Sussex. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
  When excavations began in 1983, flint tools 500,000 years old were discovered. At that time this was the oldest evidence of humans discovered in the UK. In 2005 flint tools 700,000 years old were discovered at Pakefield, and in 2010 flint tools at least 800,000 years old were discovered at Happisburgh. However, Boxgrove remains a site of great importance, for many reasons. The tools were found in a largely undisturbed state, in situ in their prehistoric landscape. The tools and evidence of the landscape were buried several metres down.
  There were many well-preserved animal bones, many flint artifacts, and hominid bones which are among some of the most ancient found in Europe. 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 artifacts, and the geology of the landscape gives a very complete picture of the coastal plain as it existed half a million years ago.
context_section_description: Boxgrove Quarry, once a gravel quarry, is now a Palaeolithic archaeological site. It is at Boxgrove in the English county of West Sussex. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
  When excavations began in 1983, flint tools 500,000 years old were discovered. At that time this was the oldest evidence of humans discovered in the UK. In 2005 flint tools 700,000 years old were discovered at Pakefield, and in 2010 flint tools at least 800,000 years old were discovered at Happisburgh. However, Boxgrove remains a site of great importance, for many reasons. The tools were found in a largely undisturbed state, in situ in their prehistoric landscape. The tools and evidence of the landscape were buried several metres down.
  There were many well-preserved animal bones, many flint artifacts, and hominid bones which are among some of the most ancient found in Europe. 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 artifacts, and the geology of the landscape gives a very complete picture of the coastal plain as it existed half a million years ago.
  Parts of the site complex were excavated between 1983 and 1996 by a team led by Mark Roberts of the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. The site is in an area that features a buried chalk cliff that overlooked a flat beach (which contained a waterhole) stretching around half a mile (1 km) south to the sea.
caption: One of the larger had-axes
exif: {"Image Make": "CASIO COMPUTER CO.,LTD.", "Image Model": "EX-V7", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Microsoft Windows Photo Gallery 6.0.6001.18000", "Image DateTime": "2011:09:11 12:16:01", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "2338", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 0, 5, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, 22, 0, 2, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 5, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2, 0, 0, 0, 1, 16, 131, 0, 0, 0]", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "38878", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5274", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "17/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "64", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:02:02 05:32:47", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:02:02 05:32:47", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "385/144", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "7/2", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "88", "EXIF FocalLength": "63/10", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "00", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2304", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3072", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "38710", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0/0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "38", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Portrait", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4156"}