What is Boxgrove Quarry?
Q: What is Boxgrove Quarry?
A: Boxgrove Quarry is a Palaeolithic archaeological site located in the English county of West Sussex. It was once a gravel quarry, but has since been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Q: When were flint tools discovered at Boxgrove?
A: Flint tools 500,000 years old were discovered when excavations began at Boxgrove in 1983.
Q: How does the evidence found at Boxgrove compare to other sites?
A: The flint tools found at Pakefield and Happisburgh are older than those found at Boxgrove, with Pakefield having 700,000 year old artifacts and Happisburgh having 800,000 year old artifacts. However, Boxgrove remains an important site due to its largely undisturbed state and the combination of bones, stone artifacts, and geology that give a very complete picture of the coastal plain from half a million years ago.
Q: Who led the excavations at Boxgrove between 1983-1996?
A: The excavations between 1983-1996 were led by Mark Roberts of the Institute of Archaeology, University College London.
Q: What was the landscape like around half a million years ago near where Boxgrove is located?
A: The landscape near where Boxgrove is located featured a buried chalk cliff that overlooked a flat beach stretching around half mile south to the sea which contained a waterhole.
Q: What kind of animal bones have been discovered at this site?
A: Several well-preserved animal bones have been discovered at this site including some that are among some of the most ancient found in Europe such as wing bone from Great Auk found in 1989.
Q: Why is it important to study sites like this one?
A: Sites like this one are important because they provide valuable insight into our past by giving us an understanding of what life was like hundreds or thousands of years ago through evidence such as animal bones and stone artifacts.
