Swanscombe


Swanscombe

 

a city in southeastern Great Britain, in the county of Kent. Population, 9,200 (1971). Fragments of occipital bone of fossil man were found in sand and gravel deposits of the Thames River near Swanscombe in 1935, 1936, and 1955. The bones, that of a woman, were thick, and the volume of the medullary cavity was determined to be approximately 1,325 cc. Stone implements of late Acheulean type were also found. The bones are approximately 200,000 years old. Some scientists consider the remains to belong to the most ancient representatives of modern man—the Presapiens. It is more correct to include Swanscombe man in the group of the early Palaeo-anthropus of Europe.