Boxgrove Man is a name given to three fossils thought to be of ''

Homo heidelbergensis ''Homo heidelbergensis'' (also ''H. sapiens heidelbergensis''), sometimes called Heidelbergs, is an extinct species or subspecies of archaic human which existed during the Middle Pleistocene. It was subsumed as a subspecies of '' H. erectus'' i ...

'', an extinct relative of modern humans (''

Homo sapiens Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

''), found at Boxgrove in Sussex, and dated to roughly half a million years old. One piece of the

tibia The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...

(shinbone) and two teeth were found. The tibia was of a mature well-built man, and the teeth are thought to be of the same mature adult. They are the oldest fossils of the genus ''

homo ''Homo'' () is the genus that emerged in the (otherwise extinct) genus '' Australopithecus'' that encompasses the extant species ''Homo sapiens'' ( modern humans), plus several extinct species classified as either ancestral to or closely relat ...

'' found in Britain.

''H. Heidelbergensis'' fossils

The site at Boxgrove in Sussex dates to the late

Cromerian Stage The Cromerian Stage or Cromerian Complex, also called the Cromerian (german: Cromerium), is a stage in the Pleistocene glacial history of north-western Europe, mostly occurring more than half a million years ago. It is named after the East Anglian t ...

, around 500,000 years ago, and it is the earliest site in Britain with fossils of the genus ''

''. The tibia was discovered in 1993 by archaeologist Mark Roberts and his team of the Institute of Archeology at University College London. The two teeth were found in 1995 and 1996 on returns to the site in the hope, which was realised, of finding further remains. The tibia was originally about long and is of a well-built male with a height of . The teeth were lower

incisors Incisors (from Latin ''incidere'', "to cut") are the front teeth present in most mammals. They are located in the premaxilla above and on the mandible below. Humans have a total of eight (two on each side, top and bottom). Opossums have 18, wher ...

found about a metre apart and are thought to belong to the same individual, a mature adult. The exceptional structural strength suggests a cold-adapted body with proportions paralleling those of the Neanderthals. Archaeological evidence indicates that these early humans had the ability to hunt or at least scavenge with stone tools as the team discovered hundreds of

Acheulean Acheulean (; also Acheulian and Mode II), from the French ''acheuléen'' after the type site of Saint-Acheul, is an archaeological industry of stone tool manufacture characterized by the distinctive oval and pear-shaped "hand axes" associated ...

flint tools A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric (particularly Stone Ag ...

at the site. The two teeth found show scratches, suggesting an eating technique in which food was cut with a tool whilst gripped between the jaws.

The site

Boxgrove in this period evolved from coastal mudflats beneath chalk cliffs to a mosaic of habitats as the sea retreated. There were then areas of grassland, pools, scrub and woodland, with diverse prey and supplies of flint which made the area attractive to early humans. Prey included horse and probably deer. Other mammal fossils were of extinct species of rhinoceros, bears, and

vole Voles are small rodents that are relatives of lemmings and hamsters, but with a stouter body; a longer, hairy tail; a slightly rounder head; smaller eyes and ears; and differently formed molars (high-crowned with angular cusps instead of lo ...

s. It is most likely that ''H. heidelbergensis'' hunted these animals for sustenance with the aid of the stone tools also discovered at this site. There is clear evidence on the animal remains that they were butchered, but it cannot be proven that the species whose fossil was found in association with them hunted these animals or scavenged them. Teeth marks on the tibia fossil may be evidence that he or she was scavenged as well, either by cannibalism or scavenging by another animal.A History of Britain, Richard Dargie (2007), p. 8–9

References

{{Homo heidelbergensis, state=collapsed Genetics in the United Kingdom Homo heidelbergensis fossils Prehistoric Britain Pleistocene primates

''H. Heidelbergensis'' fossils

The site

See also

References