Abstract
FOSSIL hominids from the earlier Middle Pleistocene of Europe are very rare and the Mauer mandible is generally accepted as the most ancient, with an estimated age of 500 kyr1,2. We report here on the discovery of a human tibia, in association with stone tools, from calcareous silts at the Lower Palaeolithic site of Boxgrove, West Sussex, UK3,4 (Fig. 1). The silt units are correlated by mammalian biostratigraphy to an, as yet unnamed, major temper-ate stage or interglacial that immediately pre-dates the Anglian cold stage5. Accordingly, the temperate sediments are equated with oxygen isotope stage 13 (ref. 6) and are therefore roughly coeval with the Mauer mandible. The massive tibia is the oldest hominid fragment from the British Isles and provides the first information about the manufacturers of the early Acheulian industries of Europe. It is assigned to Homo cf. heidelbergensis.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
von Koenigswald, W. in Schichten von Mauer 85 Jahre Homo erectus heidelbergensis (eds Beinhauer, K. W. & Wagner, G. A.) 101–110. (Editions Braus, Mannheim, 1992).
Cook, J., Stringer, C. B., Currant, A. P., Schwarcz, H. P. & Wintle, A. G. Yb. phys. Anthrop. 25, 19–65 (1982).
Roberts, M. B. Proc. prehist. Soc. 52, 215–245 (1986).
Bergman, C. A., Roberts, M. B., Collcutt, S. N. & Barlow, P. in The Big Puzzle (eds Cziesla, E., Eickhoff, S., Arts, N. & Winter, D.) 265–281 (Holos, Bonn, 1990).
Roberts, M. B. in SEQS: The Cromer Symposium, Norwich 1990, Field Excursion Guide Book (ed. Turner, C.) 62–77 (Cambridge, 1990).
Shackleton, N. J. Quat. Sci. Rev. 6, 183–190 (1987).
Macphail, R. I. Soil Report on the Micromorphology of the Sediments at Boxgrove, West Sussex (AML Report, English Heritage, London, 1993).
Hartwig-Scherer, S. Am. J. phys. Anthrop. 92, 17–36 (1993).
Rightmire, G. P. The Evolution of Homo erectus (Cambridge Univ. Press, UK, 1990).
Endo, B. & Kimura, T. in The Amud Man and His Cave Site (eds Suzuki, H. & Takai, F.) 231–406 (Academic, Tokyo, 1970).
Day, M. H. & Leakey, R. E. F. Am. J. phys. Anthrop. 41, 367–380 (1974).
Santa Luca, A. P. The Ngandong Fossil Hominids (Yale Univ., New Haven, 1980).
Trinkaus, E. The Shanidar Neandertals (Academic, New York, 1983).
Baba, H., Aziz, F. & Watanabe, N. Bull. natn. Sci. Mus. Tokyo Ser. D 16, 9–18 (1990).
Arsuaga, J.-L., Carretero, J. M., Martinez, I. & Gracia, A. J. hum. Evol. 20, 191–230 (1991).
Goldberg, P. & Macphail, R. I. in Soil Micromorphology: a Basic and Applied Science (ed. Douglas, L. A.) 441–447 (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1990).
Currant, A. P. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 38, 23–30 (1989).
van Kolfschoten, T. Meded. Rijks. Geol. Dienst. 43, 1–69 (1990).
Stuart, A. J. Pleistocene Vertebrates in the British Isles (Longman, London and New York, 1982).
West, R. G. The Preglacial Pleistocene of the Norfolk and Suffolk Coasts (Cambridge Univ. Press, UK, 1980).
Sutcliffe, A. J. & Kowalski, K. Bull. Br. Mus. (nat. Hist.) Geol. 27, 31–147 (1976).
Ashton, N. M., et al. J. geol. Soc. (in the press).
Zalasiewicz, J. A. & Gibbard, P. L. in Pliocene-Middle Pleistocene of East Anglia (eds Gibbard, P. L. & Zalasiewicz, J. A.) (Quaternary Research Association, Cambridge, 1988).
Zagwijn, W. H. Geol.en Mijnb. 64, 17–24 (1985).
Bridgland, D. R. Proc. geol. Ass. 99, 291–314 (1988).
Whiteman, C. A. & Rose, J. Quat. Sci. Rev. 11, 363–375 (1992).
Whiteman, C. A. Proc. geol. Ass. 103, 37–56 (1992).
Bridgland, D. R. Quaternary of the Thames (Chapman and Hall, London, 1993).
Bridgland, D. R., Gibbard, P. I. & Preece, R. C. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B328, 307–339 (1990).
Imbrie, J. et al. in Milankovitch and Climate Part I (eds Berger, A. L. et al.) 269–305 (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1984).
Gibbard, P. L. et al. Quat. Sci. Rev. 10, 23–52 (1991).
van den Bogaard, C., van den Bogaard, P. & Schminke, H-U. Eiszeitalter u. Gegenw. 39, 62–86 (1989).
Bosinski, G., van Kolfschoten, T. & Turner, E. Miesenheim I. Die zeit des Homo erectus (Andernacher Beiträge 2, 1988).
Stuart, A. J. & West, R. G. Geol. Mag. 113, 469–473 (1976).
Bishop, M. J. Spec. Pap. Palaeont. 28, 1–108 (1982).
Andrews, P. Owls, Caves and Fossils (Natural History Museum Publications, London, 1990).
Ashton, N. M., Cook, J., Lewis, S. G. & Rose, J. (eds) High Lodge. Excavations by G. de G. Sieveking 1962–68 and J. Cook 1988 (British Museum Press, London, 1992).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Roberts, M., Stringer, C. & Parfitt, S. A hominid tibia from Middle Pleistocene sediments at Boxgrove, UK. Nature 369, 311–313 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1038/369311a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/369311a0
This article is cited by
-
Spatial analysis and site formation processes associated with the Middle Pleistocene hominid teeth from Q1/B waterhole, Boxgrove (West Sussex, UK)
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2023)
-
New magnetostratigraphic evidence for the age of Acheulean tools at the archaeo-palaeontological site “Solana del Zamborino” (Guadix – Baza Basin, S Spain)
Scientific Reports (2017)
-
Prehistory of the British Isles: A tale of coming and going
BMSAP (2017)
-
Antiquity and Social Functions of Multilevel Social Organization Among Human Hunter-Gatherers
International Journal of Primatology (2012)
-
The Prehistoric Development of Clothing: Archaeological Implications of a Thermal Model
Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory (2010)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.