A treasure recently uncovered at the Maritime Academy in Kent, England, has puzzled scientists due to its contents, which seem to have been made for the lives of giants.
The excavation was led by Dr. Letty Ingrey and colleagues from the Archaeology Institute at University College London (UCL), the University of Wales, and Wessex Archaeology. They unearthed a collection of 800 stone tools dating back at least 300,000 years.
This is an enormous archaeological treasure, crafted from the most valuable materials of the Stone Age, such as flint; it was also shaped in remarkably peculiar ways.
The giant flint axe, the most notable artifact among the 800 tools dating back 300,000 years – (Photo: ARCHAEOLOGY)
Among the treasures, the two extremely large flint tools stand out, described as giant hand axes, significantly larger than hand axes typically used by ancient peoples.
“They have long pointed ends and are exquisitely crafted, with bases much thicker than contemporaneous axes” – according to Sci-News.
The largest axe measures up to 29.5 cm in length and is one of the longest hand axes ever excavated in England, adding to the collection of other giant axes previously found in the Thames and Medway regions.
“These handcrafted axes are so large that it’s hard to imagine how they could be easily held and used” – Dr. Ingrey remarked.
What’s most intriguing is that they likely were not used for practical tasks but served symbolic purposes, similar to how modern humans craft swords and ornate knives for decoration rather than utility. This serves as a testament to the strength and skill of their makers and owners.
This is truly shocking considering the artifacts are dated to 300,000 years ago, a period when modern humans, Homo sapiens, had just begun to emerge.
This treasure is suspected to belong to a relative species of Homo, which existed about half a million years earlier and coexisted with our ancestors for tens of thousands of years: Neanderthals.
Some evidence suggests that Neanderthal culture began in the area at that time, possibly alongside other early human species. But whoever they were, this valuable archaeological treasure demonstrates how advanced other hominins had evolved long before the appearance of Homo sapiens.
The highly crafted tools also allowed them to survive in the harsh glacial conditions of that era, which has always puzzled scientists. The results were recently published in the scientific journal Archaeology.
