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Swanscombe Man
Swanscombe /ˈswɔnzkəm/ is a town in the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England, and the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe. It is 4.4 miles west of Gravesend and 4.8 miles east of Dartford. History Prehistory Bone fragments and tools, representing the earliest humans known to have lived in England, have been found from 1935 onwards at the Barnfield Pit about outside the village. This site is now the Swanscombe Heritage Park. Swanscombe Man (now thought to be female) was a late or an early archaic ''Homo sapiens''. According to the Natural History Museum, however, the remains are those of a 400,000-year-old early Neanderthal woman. The c. 400,000-year-old skull fragments are kept at the Natural History Museum in London with a replica on display at the Dartford Museum. Lower levels of the Barnfield Pit yielded evidence of an even earlier, more primitive, human, dubbed Clactonian Man. Nearby digs on land for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link revealed a c. 400,000-ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as the means by which a mayor is elected or otherwise mandated. Depending on the system chosen, a mayor may be the chief executive officer of the municipal government, may simply chair a multi-member governing body with little or no independent power, or may play a solely ceremonial role. A mayor's duties and responsibilities may be to appoint and oversee municipal managers and employees, provide basic governmental services to constituents, and execute the laws and ordinances passed by a municipal governing body (or mandated by a state, territorial or national governing body). Options for selection of a mayor include direct election by the public, or selection by an elected governing council or board. The term ''mayor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natural History Museum, London
The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum (London), Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Natural History Museum's main frontage, however, is on Cromwell Road. The museum is home to life and earth science specimens comprising some 80 million items within five main collections: botany, entomology, mineralogy, palaeontology and zoology. The museum is a centre of research specialising in Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, identification and conservation. Given the age of the institution, many of the collections have great historical as well as scientific value, such as specimens collected by Charles Darwin. The museum is particularly famous for its exhibition of dinosaur skeletons and ornate architecture—sometimes dubbed a ''cathedral of nature''—both exemplified by the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of ''Britannia'' after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55 and 54 BC as part of his Gallic Wars. According to Caesar, the Britons had been overrun or culturally assimilated by the Belgae during the British Iron Age and had been aiding Caesar's enemies. The Belgae were the only Celtic tribe to cross the sea into Britain, for to all other Celtic tribes this land was unknown. He received tribute, installed the friendly king Mandubracius over the Trinovantes, and returned to Gaul. Planned invasions under Augustus were called off in 34, 27, and 25 BC. In 40 AD, Caligula assembled 200,000 men at the Channel on the continent, only to have them gather seashells () according to Suetonius, perhaps as a symbolic gesture to proclaim Caligula's victory over th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anglo-Saxons
The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to Germanic peoples, Germanic settlers who became one of the most important cultural groups in Britain by the 5th century. The Anglo-Saxon period in Britain is considered to have started by about 450 and ended in 1066, with the Norman conquest of England, Norman Conquest. Although the details of Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, their early settlement and History of Anglo-Saxon England, political development are not clear, by the 8th century an Anglo-Saxon cultural identity which was generally called had developed out of the interaction of these settlers with the existing Romano-British culture. By 1066, most of the people of what is now England spoke Old English, and were considered English. Viking and Norman invasions chang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ebbsfleet Valley
Ebbsfleet Valley, located in Kent, South East England, southwest of Gravesend, is a new town and redevelopment area within the Thames Gateway regeneration initiative. It is part of the broader Ebbsfleet Garden City project, which encompasses the area's long-term development goals, but Ebbsfleet Valley specifically refers to the new town being built, focusing on residential, commercial, and community aspects within its designated 10.1 km² (3.9 sq mi) area. It is named after the valley of the Ebbsfleet River, which it straddles. Although a small part of the site in the east lies within the borough of Gravesham, most of Ebbsfleet Valley sits in the borough of Dartford (borough), Dartford. History The Ebbsfleet area has a rich historical backdrop, shaped by medieval shipbuilding, quarrying, and riverside industries. Towns like Northfleet, Swanscombe, and Greenhithe, Kent, Greenhithe retain strong local identities, with landscapes featuring grasslands, quaysides, and chalk cliffs. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough skin texture due to wart-like parotoid glands tend to be called toads, but the distinction between frogs and toads is informal and purely cosmetic, not from taxonomy (biology), taxonomy or evolutionary history. Frogs are widely distributed, ranging from the tropics to subarctic regions, but the greatest concentration of species diversity is in tropical rainforest and associated wetlands. They account for around 88% of extant amphibian species, and are one of the five most diverse vertebrate orders. The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is known from the Early Triassic of Madagascar (250Myr, million years ago), but molecular clock, molecular clock dating suggests their divergent evolution, divergence from other amphibians may exte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Newt
A newt is a salamander in the subfamily Pleurodelinae. The terrestrial juvenile phase is called an eft. Unlike other members of the family Salamandridae, newts are semiaquatic, alternating between aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Not all aquatic salamanders are considered newts, however. More than 100 known species of newts are found in North America, Europe, North Africa and Asia. Newts metamorphose through three distinct developmental life stages: aquatic larva, terrestrial juvenile (eft), and adult. Adult newts have lizard-like bodies and return to the water every year to breed, otherwise living in humid, cover-rich land habitats. Newts are threatened by habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, fragmentation and pollution. Several species are endangered, and at least one species, the Yunnan lake newt, has become extinct recently. Etymology The Old English name of the animal was , (of unknown origin), resulting in Middle English ; this word was transformed irregularly into , ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microtus
''Microtus'' is a genus of voles found in North America, Europe and northern Asia. The genus name refers to the small ears of these animals. They are stout rodents with short ears, legs and tails. They eat green vegetation such as grasses and sedges in summer, and grains, seeds, root and bark at other times. The genus is also called "meadow voles". There is some disagreement on the definitive list of species in this genus, and which subgenera are recognized. The American Society of Mammalogists recognizes the following 60 species, with discrepancies as noted: Subgenus ''Blanfordimys'' * Afghan vole (''Microtus afghanus'') * Bucharian vole (''Microtus bucharensis'') * Juniper vole (''Microtus yuldaschi'') Subgenus ''Euarvicola'' * Short-tailed field vole (''Microtus agrestis'') * Mediterranean field vole (''Microtus lavernedii'') * Portuguese field vole (''Microtus rozianus'') Subgenus ''Hyrcanicola'' (not recognized by the ASM, listed in subgenus ''Microtus'') * Schelkovni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arvicola
Water voles are large voles in the genus ''Arvicola''. They are found in both aquatic and dry habitat through Europe and much of northern Asia. A water vole found in Western North America was historically considered a member of this genus, but has been shown to be more closely related to members of the genus ''Microtus''. Head and body lengths are , tail lengths are , and their weights are . The animals may exhibit indeterminate growth. They are thick-furred and have hairy fringes on their feet that improve their swimming ability. A 2021 phylogenetic study using mtDNA found that ''Arvicola'' may not belong with the rest of its namesake tribe Arvicolini, but rather forms a sister group to the tribe Lagurini. Species There are three species as listed by the IUCN: * European (or northern) water vole (''A. amphibius'' or ''A. terrestris'') * Southwestern (or southern) water vole (''A. sapidus'') * Montane water vole (''A. scherman'') The American Society of Mammalogists Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Straight-tusked Elephant
The straight-tusked elephant (''Palaeoloxodon antiquus'') is an extinct species of elephant that inhabited Europe and Western Asia during the Middle Pleistocene, Middle and Late Pleistocene. One of the largest known elephant species, mature fully grown bulls on average had a shoulder height of and a weight of . Straight-tusked elephants likely lived very similarly to modern elephants, with herds of adult females and juveniles and solitary adult males. The species was primarily associated with temperate and Mediterranean woodland and forest habitats, flourishing during interglacial periods, when its range would extend across Europe as far north as Great Britain and Denmark and eastwards into Russia, while persisting in southern Europe during glacial periods, when northern Europe was occupied by Steppe mammoth, steppe mammoths and later Woolly mammoth, woolly mammoths. Skeletons found in association with stone tools and in one case, a wooden spear, suggest they were scavenged and h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
High Speed 1
High Speed 1 (HS1), officially the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), is a high-speed railway linking London with the Channel Tunnel. It is part of the line carrying international passenger traffic between the United Kingdom and mainland Europe; it also carries domestic passenger traffic to and from stations in Kent and east London, and continental European loading gauge freight traffic. From the Channel Tunnel, the line crosses the River Medway, and tunnels under the River Thames, terminating at St Pancras railway station, London St Pancras International station on the north side of central London. It cost £6.84 billion to build and opened on 14 November 2007. Trains run at speeds of up to on HS1. There are intermediate stations at in London, Ebbsfleet International railway station, Ebbsfleet International in northern Kent and Ashford International railway station, Ashford International in southern Kent. International passenger services are provided by Eurostar Intern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
