Editing Swanscombe (section)

===Prehistory===
[[File:Swanscombe occipital 01.jpg|thumb|Back of the Swanscombe-skull (replica)]]
[[File:Franks HouseDSCF7154.jpg|thumb|Box of 8 [[hand axe]]s from the middle gravels of Barnfield Pit, contained in the [[British Museum]]]]
[[File:Swanscombe tools.jpg|thumb|Lithics from Swanscombe on display at the [[Museum of London]]]]
[[File:Swanscombe bear skull.jpg|thumb|Bear skull from Swanscombe on display at the [[Museum of London]]]]
Bone fragments and tools, representing the earliest humans known to have lived in England, have been found from 1935 onwards at the Barnfield Pit about {{convert|2|km|0|abbr=in}} outside the village. This site is now the [[Swanscombe Heritage Park]]. [[Swanscombe Man]] (now thought to be female) was a late {{lang|la|[[Homo erectus]]}} or an early [[Archaic humans|archaic ''Homo sapiens'']].<ref>Francis Wenban-Smith, [http://www.swanscombeheritagepark.co.uk/interpretation.htm Interpretation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130726004024/http://www.swanscombeheritagepark.co.uk/interpretation.htm |date=26 July 2013 }}. Retrieved 1 November 2013</ref> According to the [[Natural History Museum, London|Natural History Museum]], however, the remains are those of a 400,000-year-old early [[Neanderthal]] woman.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160403075311/http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/blogs/whats-new/2014/02/11/neanderthal-woman-in-pieces Neanderthal woman in pieces] Retrieved 16 May 2018</ref>

The c. 400,000-year-old skull fragments are kept at the Natural History Museum in [[London]] with a replica on display at the Dartford Museum. Lower levels of the Barnfield Pit yielded evidence of an even earlier, more primitive, human, dubbed [[Clactonian Man]].<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://kentarchaeology.org.uk/node/12033|title=Clactonian Flints from Rickson's Pit, Swanscombe|last=Tester|first=P. J.|journal=Archaeologia Cantiana |volume=100 |year=1984|publisher=Kent Archaeological Society |access-date=12 July 2016}} {{open access}}</ref>

Nearby digs on land for the [[High Speed 1|Channel Tunnel Rail Link]] revealed a c. 400,000-year-old site with human tools and the remains of a [[straight-tusked elephant]] (''Palaeoloxodon antiquus''), and evidence of [[Arvicola|water vole]], [[microtus|pine vole]], [[newt]]s, [[frog]]s etc., indicating a site with standing water similar to a swamp. The elephant is thought to have been butchered by humans at the site.<ref name="essex">{{cite news|last1=McKie|first1=Robin|title=The mysterious end of Essex man|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2005/jan/23/research.science|access-date=10 June 2017|work=The Guardian|date=23 January 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Giant prehistoric elephant slaughtered by early humans|url=http://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2013/09/20-prehistoric-elephant-slaughtered-by-early-humans.page|date=20 September 2013|publisher=southampton.ac.uk|access-date=10 June 2017}}</ref>