What is Eartham Pit, Boxgrove?
[[File:Franks HouseDSCF7165.jpg|thumb|right|A tray of high quality [[hand-axe]]s]] [[File:Boxgrove flints.jpg|thumb|right|A tray of flints of the chip-and-flake type]] [[File:Boxgrove handaxe.jpg|thumb|right|One of the larger had-axes]] '''Boxgrove Quarry''', once a [[gravel]] [[quarry]], is now a [[Palaeolithic]] [[archaeological site]]. It is at Boxgrove in the [[England|English]] [[county]] of [[West Sussex]]. It is a [[Site of Special Scientific Interest]].<ref>{{cite document|title=SSSI Citation &mdash; Eartham Pit |publisher=Natural England |url=http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/2000065.pdf |accessdate=3 May 2009}}</ref> When excavations began in 1983, [[flint]] [[tools]] 500,000 years old were discovered. At that time this was the oldest evidence of humans discovered in the UK. In 2005 flint tools 700,000 years old were discovered at [[Pakefield]], and in 2010 flint tools at least 800,000 years old were discovered at [[Happisburgh]]. However, Boxgrove remains a site of great importance, for many reasons. The tools were found in a largely undisturbed state, ''in situ'' in their [[prehistoric]] [[landscape]]. The tools and evidence of the landscape were buried several metres down. There were many well-preserved animal bones, many flint [[Artifact (archaeology)|artifact]]s, and [[Hominidae|hominid]] bones which are among some of the most ancient found in [[Europe]]. Several of the animal bones are the oldest found specimens of their species, such as the wing bone of the [[Great Auk]] found at the site in 1989. The combination of bones, stone artifacts, and the [[geology]] of the landscape gives a very complete picture of the coastal plain as it existed half a million years ago.<ref>Pitts M. & Roberts M. 1997. ''Fairweather Eden''. London: Century. {{ISBN|0-7126-7686-4}}</ref> Parts of the site complex were excavated between 1983 and 1996 by a team led by [[Mark Roberts (archaeologist)|Mark Roberts]] of the [[Institute of Archaeology]], [[University College London]]. The site is in a