Early Hominids (500,000 BC)
Palaeolithic 450,000 – 12,000 BC
The ‘old stone age’, when stone and wooden tools were first developed. People lived by hunting and gathering, and lived in caves and temporary shelters in small groups.
The West Sussex area has probably been inhabited for as long as people have been in Britain. The earliest evidence comes from the quarry site in Boxgrove which is situated approximately 20km to the north-east of Site 6. Here remains of bones dated to 500,000 years ago have been found alongside various flint tools. These are the remains of Homo heidelbergensis, one of the ancestor species of modern humans, who lived in Britain before the last Ice Age.
Mesolithic 12,000 – 4,000 BC
The transitional period, during which humans grew more numerous and society became more complex. Bows and arrows were developed for hunting, and the first needles were made for stitching hides together.
Neolithic 4,000 – 18,000 BC
The development of farming, when animals and plants were first domesticated. Pottery and woven cloth were developed, and many people settled in permanent villages instead of living nomadically.
Remains of Neolithic flint-mining have been discovered at Harrow Hill near Arundel, and at Cissbury near Brighton. To date very little evidence for such early occupation has been found iaround Site 6, but searching for such evidence from the site itself is a major aim of the project.