Swanscombe Palaeolithic site
| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
Monument marking the place where the first part of the skull was discovered in 1935 | |
| Location | Kent |
|---|---|
| Grid reference | TQ 597 742 |
| Interest | Geological |
| Area | 3.9 hectares (9.6 acres) |
| Notification | 1988 |
| Location map | Magic Map |
The Swanscombe Skull Site is a 3.9-hectare (9.6-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Swanscombe, north-west Kent, England. The site is now part of Swanscombe Heritage Park. It contains two Geological Conservation Review sites and a National Nature Reserve. The park is situated in a former gravel quarry, Barnfield Pit, which is the most important site in the Swanscombe complex, alongside several other nearby pits. It dates to the Hoxnian interglacial (Marine Isotope Stage 11), around 425-375,000 years ago. It is best known for the fragmentary remains of the skull of an archaic human dubbed "Swanscombe Man", likely an early Neanderthal or Homo heidelbergensis. Numerous stone artifacts, including handaxes, have also been recovered from the quarry.