Young Boy Discovers Ancient Neanderthal Hand Axe on Sussex Coast

A young boy, who initially discovered what he thought was a shiny rock during beach play, has learned that the object is in fact a Neanderthal hand axe, potentially dating back 60,000 years. Ben, a resident of Shoreham, West Sussex, came across the axe at Shoreham Beach at the age of six and subsequently kept it in his room for a period of three years. The realization of the item’s significance occurred when the boy, now nine years old, visited Worthing Museum three weeks prior and observed the Stone Age exhibition, prompting him to recognize a comparable object he possessed at home. The museum, currently displaying the axe, stated that it was “almost certainly made by a Neanderthal” within a timeframe of 40,000 to 60,000 years ago. Ben recounted: “I was looking around and I saw this shiny flint rock. I just thought it looked different to all the other different pebbles and stones.” He mentioned that he stored it in his room, though he was consistently “losing it and finding it”. Ben further stated that the museum commented, “it looked like an amazing find.” He continued, “They said it’s their best find in ten years. Now it’s in a case in the museum. I was really excited, my heart was beating really fast.” He expressed, “I did want to keep it, but I felt like it would be better there than in my hands.” His mother, Emma, informed BBC Radio Sussex, “Seeing how it lit up the face of the archaeologist at the museum, it’s great that others can enjoy it.” A spokesperson for Worthing Museum indicated that the hand axe originates from the Late Middle Palaeolithic era, spanning 40,000 to 60,000 years ago. The spokesperson added: “Ben found the flint axe in the upper shingle at Shoreham beach, so it is very difficult to say with confidence whether the axe was originally lost there or whether it was dredged up from offshore river deposits during work to strengthen the beach defences.” Neanderthals are regarded as the distant evolutionary relatives of contemporary humans, having become extinct approximately 40,000 years ago.