Oldbury rock shelters
Encyclopedia
Oldbury rock shelters are a complex of Middle Palaeolithic sites situated on the slopes of Oldbury hillfort
near Ightham
in the English
county of Kent
.
They were occupied by Mousterian
flint tool manufacturers around 50,000 years ago and examples of their characteristic bout-coupé
handaxes were found there during excavations in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The site is open to the public and owned by the National Trust
.
Oldbury hillfort
Oldbury hillfort is a large Iron Age hill fort near the village of Ightham, Kent, England.It covers the top of a hill that would have provided commanding views over one of the main routes in and out of the Weald and covers an area of 50 ha. A natural spring within the fort would have provided...
near Ightham
Ightham
Ightham is a village in Kent, England, located approximately four miles east of Sevenoaks and six miles north of Tonbridge. The parish includes the hamlet of Ivy Hatch....
in the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
county of Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
.
They were occupied by Mousterian
Mousterian
Mousterian is a name given by archaeologists to a style of predominantly flint tools associated primarily with Homo neanderthalensis and dating to the Middle Paleolithic, the middle part of the Old Stone Age.-Naming:...
flint tool manufacturers around 50,000 years ago and examples of their characteristic bout-coupé
Bout-coupé
Bout-coupé is a term used by archaeologists to describe a type of handaxe that constituted part of the Mousterian industry of the Middle Palaeolithic.The handaxes are bifacially-worked and in the shape of a rounded triangle...
handaxes were found there during excavations in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The site is open to the public and owned by the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
.