Swanscombe Palaeolithic site
| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
 Monument marking the place where the skull fragment was discovered in 1935 | |
Location of Swanscombe Skull Site. | |
| Area of search | Kent |
|---|---|
| Grid reference | TQ 597 742 |
| Interest | Geological |
| Area | 3.9 hectares (9.6 acres) |
| Notification date | 1988 |
| Location map | Magic Map |
The Swanscombe Skull Site is a 3.9-hectare (9.6-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and National Nature Reserve in Swanscombe, Kent, England, now forming part of the broader Swanscombe Heritage Park. The site lies within Barnfield Pit, the most significant of several former gravel quarries that once supplied raw materials to the nearby Swanscombe Cement Works, and contains two Geological Conservation Review sites. It dates to the Hoxnian interglacial (Marine Isotope Stage 11), around 425-375,000 years ago. It is best known for the fragmentary remains of the skull of an archaic human dubbed "Swanscombe Man", likely an early Neanderthal or Homo heidelbergensis.. Numerous stone artifacts, including handaxes, have also been recovered from the quarry