Two dead in Meningitis outbreak in Kent, southern England.

Two people have died in an outbreak of Meningitis in the city of Canterbury, in Kent, southern England, this week, according to the UK Health Security Agency. Both of those who have died have been described as having been teenage students studying at the University of Kent. A further eighteen cases of the disease have been confirmed, sixteen of whom live in or close to Canterbury, with one patient each in London and Paris, both of whom are known to have visited Canterbury immediately before becoming unwell. A further eleven possible cases are under investigation. 

The location of the University of Kent. Google Maps.

Meningitis is a serious infection of the meninges, the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. Several different Bacteria can cause Meningitis, however, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Neisseria meningitidis (sometimes spelled Neisseria meningitis) are the most common, and are transmitted from person to person through droplets of respiratory or throat secretions from infected people.

The average incubation period for Meningococcal Meningitis is 4 days, but can range between 2 and 10 days. The most common symptoms of Meningitis are a stiff neck, high fever, sensitivity to light, confusion, headaches and vomiting. Even with early diagnosis and adequate treatment, 5% to 10% of patients die, typically within 24 to 48 hours after the onset of symptoms. Bacterial Meningitis may result in brain damage, hearing loss or a learning disability in 10% to 20% of survivors. A less common, but even more severe (and often fatal), form of Meningococcal Disease is Meningococcal Septicaemia, which is characterised by a haemorrhagic rash and rapid circulatory collapse.

The Canterbury outbreak has been linked to the B serotype of Neisseria meningitidis, a form of Betaproteobacterium. A serotype is a distinct population within a species of Bacteria or Virus which presents different antigen proteins on the surface of its cells, and therefore requires the body to develop a different antibody response. A total of 12 serotypes of Neisseria meningitides have been identified, six of which (A, B, C, W, X and Y) can cause Meningococcal Meningitis epidemics.

Two serotypes 1a and 1b with antigens 2a and 2b on surface. Corresponding antibodys 3a and 3b with the possibility to bind to the antigens. Anna Bauer/Wikimedia Commons.

In the UK, a vaccine for Neisseria meningitidis serotypes A, C, W, & Y is typically offered to school pupils aged 14-15, while a vaccine for serotype B, which is particularly associated with outbreaks in infants, is offered to babies. However, this latter vaccination was only introduced in 2015, and therefore most people over the age of 15 in the UK are not vaccinated against this strain. The charity Meningitis Now, which campaigns on issues relating to the disease in the UK, as well as offering advise to those affected by or concerned about Meningitis, has been campaigning for a roll-out of the serotype B vaccine to older groups. 

As a response to the current outbreak, the University of Kent has arranged for a vaccination program for students to be set up on its campus, where antibiotics, which can help to fight the disease, are also available. Advice for staff and students at the university can be found here. Other people who are concerned that they may have been exposed should contact their GP (a GP, or General Practitioner, is a family doctor in the UK), or the National Health Service's NHS111 help service.

Students at the University of Kent in Canterbury queuing to get Meningitis B vaccine. PA Media.

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Updown Girl.

Migration has been part of the British story for millennia, and this is particularly true of the Early Medieval Period, when, following the ending of the Roman occupation of England, various waves of Germanic settlers migrated to the country. While this has been understood in broad terms for a long time, modern genetic archaeological methods are now providing us with a lot more detail about migrations during this period, by allowing us to determine how different populations, and individuals were related to one another. 

In a paper published in the journal Antiquity on 13 August 2025, Duncan Sayer of the Institute for Materials and Investigative Sciences at the University of Lancashire, Joscha Gretzinger of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, John Hines of the School of History, Archaeology and Religion at Cardiff University, Michael McCormick of the Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard University, Keziah Warburton, also of the Institute for Materials and Investigative Sciences at the University of Lancashire, Erin Sebo of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Flinders University, Katharina Dulias of the Institute of Geosystems and Bioindication at Technische Universität Braunschweig, and the School of Applied Sciences at the University of Huddersfield, Maria Pala, Martin Richards, and Ceiridwen Jane Edwards, also of the School of Applied Sciences at the University of Huddersfield, and Stephan Schiffels, also of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, discuss the discovery of a young female individual with immediate West African ancestry at Updown Anglo Saxon Cemetery near Eastry in Kent.

Updown Cemetery was excavated in two phases, the first under Sonia Hawkes of the University of Oxford (who had previously led excavations at the nearby Finglesham Cemetery) in 1976, and the second under Brian Philp of the Kent Archaeological Society in 1989, on both cases working ahead of development projects. During these excavations, 78 graves were uncovered. As well as Human remains, the site has yielded a range of grave goods, including weapons and personal goods; one individual had a Byzantine buckle which would have been an antique at the time it was buried. Uptown Cemetery is only a few kilometres from the larger Finglesham Cemetery, which dates from the same period, the two forming part of a cluster of Early Medieval cemeteries in East Kent.

Anglo Saxon burial sites in and around Eastry. Van Tongeren (2022).

Ancient DNA has been recovered from six individuals from Updown (from graves 34, 37, 45, 47, 48, and 52), with some of these being included in a previous study of genetic relationships across northern Europe. The Individual from Grave 47 (genetic ID EAS003) has not been included in previous studies, as the significance of what that individual's genome reveal was deemed significant enough to merit a separate publication.

The excavated graves at Updown, Kent, showing the burials sampled for ancient DNA. Sayer et al. (2025).

The individual in Grave 47 is a subadult, determined from osteological evidence (examination of the skeleton) to have been between 11 and 13 years old at the time of death. Ancient DNA was recovered from the petrous bone (part of the base of the skull) of this individual revealed that this individual was female, and belonged to female mitochondrial U5b1c2b, which is common in Northern Europe.

Because mitochondrial DNA is found in the mitochondria, organelles outside the cell nucleus, it is passed directly from mother to child without being sexually recombined each generation, enabling precise estimations of when individuals shared common ancestors, at least through the female line; this is known as the female haplogroup. It is also possible to trace direct ancestry through the male line, using DNA from the Y chromosome, which is passed directly from father to son without sexual recombination; this is known as the male haplogroup. Since everyone has mitochondria, it is possible to determine the female haplogroup of all Humans, but generally only males have a Y chromosome and can be assigned to a male haplogroup.

Whilst ID EAS003 clearly belongs to a North European female haplogroup, her autosomal DNA (i.e. the DNA on her non-sex chromosomes) shows a clear admixture of non-European DNA. This non-European portion of her genome shows affinities with samples collected from individuals belonging the the Yoruba, Essen, Mandinka, and Mende ethnic groups, all of whom are found in West Africa. The Yoruba and Essen peoples are predominantly found in Nigeria, while the Mandinka are predominantly found in the Senegambia region and Mende in Sierra Leone, although both groups can trace their roots back to the Mali Empire. In total, somewhere between 20 and 40 percent of her autosomal genome appears to come from sub-Saharan Africa, implying she probably had one grandparent from this region.

Comparison of the genome of ID EAS003 to that of other individuals from Updown Cemetery, revealed that several were close relatives, with the woman in Grave 34 (EAS001) being her grandmother, and the woman in Grave  45 (EAS002) being an aunt. All three belong to mitochondrial haplogroup U5b1c2b, implying matrilinial decent. Furthermore, the male individual in Grave 52 (EAS006) appears to be the father of the woman in Grave 34, making him ID EAS003's great grandfather. This male belongs to the male haplogroup E-V13, which is common in southern Italy, Greece, and the Balkans, but unusual in Northern Europe. However, other than ID EAS003, none of these individuals show any genetic evidence for recent sub-Saharan ancestry.

Other than ID EAS003, all of these individuals draw the majority of their ancestry from a Continental Northern European profile, which is associated with Anglo Saxon migrations, and became dominant over much of England between the fifth and tenth centuries. They also have minor fractions of  Continental Western European ancestry and Western British Irish ancestry, which is common for early Anglo Saxon cemeteries in eastern England, particularly Kent. This would imply that ID EAS003 was buried alongside members of her mother's lineage, but derived her African ancestry from her paternal side, no other members of which have yet been discovered. Furthermore, based upon the proportion of African DNA in her genome, Sayer et al. conclude that one of her paternal grandparents was entirely sub-Saharan African, at least in their genetic makeup.

Genetic family history of EAS003: (a) Karyogram visualisation of the length and distribution of admixture tracts across the EAS003 genome as inferred using RFMix. (b) Reconstruction of pedigree of EAS003. Males are depicted as squares, females as circles. Y chromosome and mtDNA haplogroups are reported. The results of a supervised admixture at K = 12 are shown next to the corresponding individual. Sayer et al. (2025).

No direct dating is available for Grave 47 or its occupant, however, Grave 34, which lies in close proximity, and which contains the grandmother of the girl in Grace 47, has been radiocarbon dated to between 600 and 655 AD, with a confidence of 95.4%. The two graves lie on either side of a small barrow, which contained a type SX1-c seax (a seax, or sax, is a single bladed tool and/or weapon resembling a mixture between a bread knife and a short sword), which is typical of the early seventh century. The woman from Grave 34 is estimated to have been between 20 and 40 when she died, making it unlikely she outlived her granddaughter, but the proximity of the two graves suggests that their deaths were occurred within a few years of each other.

Updown Girl was buried with a knife, a spoon, a comb, a decorated pot, and some fragments of copper alloy, which may have been the remnants of the mounts of a bag. The decorated pot, which was placed next to her feet, was biconical, and was a fine, wheel-turned product. Such pots are common in early Anglo Saxon cemeteries in Kent, and are thought to have been mostly imported from Frankish Gaul, although the pattern on the pot suggests it may have been of local manufacture. The knife, spoon, comb, and bag fragments were found close to the left hip. The knife was a utilitarian item, common in Anglo Saxon graves of the period, but the other items may have more significance.

Grave 47 at Updown: photograph and adjacent grave plan show the positioning of the body and grave goods. Sayer et al. (2025).

Spoons were significant items in Anglo Saxon England, used not just for eating, but often as pendants or amulets. High status burials, such as Sutton Hoo and the Prittlewell chamber grave, often contain Byzantine or European silver spoons made to Roman patterns. Small, spatulate, iron spoons are common in seventh century burials in Kent, having been found at sites such as Dover Buckland, Holborough, and Sibertswold, as well as Burwell in Cambridgeshire. The practice of carrying spoons appears to have been associated with the spread of Christianity in Anglo Saxon England.

Combs are also considered important in Anglo Saxon graves, and were found in both graves 47 and 45 at Updown Cemetery. The one recovered from Grave 47 was a three-piece, double-sided composite design made from antler; such combs are common from the fifth century onwards. Combs are typically found only with adult women (20 years and older) in Anglo Saxon burials. Hair type is one of the more notable differences between African and European populations, and hair and hair-care products often take on symbolic meaning in African populations living in countries with predominantly European populations. There is no evidence to suggest an African population in Early Anglo Saxon England large enough to have taken on its own cultural symbols, however, it is likely that Updown Girl had hair notably different from other members of her community, which may have been significant enough to them to justify her having her own comb at a young age.

Unfortunately, we do not have a good idea what Updown Girl may have looked like. She has only a partial skull, preventing any reconstruction of her facial features, and no trace of her hair or skin pigmentation is preserved (nor would we expect them to be). Nevertheless, it is likely that she differed in some ways from other members of her community. Any such differences did not, however, prevent her from being buried alongside other members of that community, who appear to have been relatively well-off and were living close to a royal centre.

The extent of contact between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa in ancient and medieval times is hard to assess. Much of North Africa was ruled at various points by Egypt, Carthage, Rome, the Vandals, Byzantium, and eventually the Islamic Caliphate, all of whom traded to varying extents with peoples south of the Sahara. The classical civilisations (Greece and Rome), were certainly aware of the area, which was noted for gold, ebony, ivory, and the beauty of its women, with later Roman scholars aware of the position of the River Niger, and that it flowed to the east. 

This has led to speculation that these ancient civilisations might have had extensive trade with sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the often mentioned gold. However, analysis of trace elements in gold coins and objects has found no evidence of any significant amount of African gold entering the Mediterranean world before the ninth century. Similarly, while the trade in slaves from across the Sahara appears to have become a major phenomenon in the Caliphate in the ninth and tenth centuries, but there is no evidence for such a trade in the sixth or seventh centuries. This is reflected south of the Sahara, where there is an archaeological record of trade routes associated with the ancient states of Ghana and Gao in modern Mali, which does not seem to include trans-Saharan routes before the seventh/eighth centuries, with these becoming important in the ninth.

Small amounts of African Red Slip Ware have been found in Early Medieval sites in western Britain. However, this originated from an area which covered modern Tunisia and neighbouring parts of Algeria and Libya. Similarly, the Plague of Justinian, which first appeared in Egypt in 541 AD, is known to have reached early Anglo Saxon England, indicating that there were at least indirect trade routes between England and North Africa during this period. Ivory found in Anglo Saxon graves in Lincolnshire has been identified as having come from Elephants which lived in East Africa in the fifth or sixth centuries, although these probably came via a Red Sea trade route, far from the Sahel Region of West Africa. 

If a generation is assumed to be about 25 years, then it is possible that the African grandparent of Updown Girl left the southern Sahel region of West Africa some time in between the mid sixth and early seventh century AD, at which time most of North Africa would have been under Byzantine control. Byzantine artefacts such as coins and jewellery are fairly common in Anglo Saxon England (a Byzantine buckle has been found at Upton Cemetery), implying that trade between these two regions was a fairly common event, potentially providing a route for an adventurous sub-Saharan, or person of immediate sub-Saharan African decent, to make their way to Anglo Saxon England.

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Archaeologists uncover Anglo Saxon sword in Kent.

Archaeologists working at an Anglo Saxon cemetery near Canterbury in Kent, England, (the exact location of which has not been revealed to protect it from looting) have uncovered an Anglo Saxon sword of exceptional quality. This sword has a decorative patterned hilt in silver and guilt, and a blade with a runic inscription, and has been compared to high-quality swords previously discovered at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk and Dover in Kent. Part of the scabbard was preserved along with the sword, this being made from leather and wood, and lined with Beaver fur.

An Anglo Saxon sword unearthed at a sixth century cemetery near Canterbury in Kent. Alice Roberts/BBC/Rare TV.

The grave is the twelfth of about two hundred at the cemetery, which is being excavated by a team of archaeologists led by Duncan Sayer of the University of Central Lancashire, and which contains both male and female burials. All of the male graves excavated at the site so far have contained weapons buried as grave goods, typically spears and sheilds, while all the female graves have contained knives, tools, and items of jewellery, a pattern typical of Anglo Saxon cemeteries.

Interestingly, the occupant of the grave which yielded the sword was also buried with a gold pendant with an inscribed image of a serpent or dragon, an item which would normally be associated with high-status women in Anglo Saxon cemeteries. Since the sword's owner is not thought to have been female, this may be a keepsake from a female relative or loved one. 

The excavation will be featured in the upcoming series of the BBC TV program 'Digging for Britain'.

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Understanding the giant handaxes of the British Lower Palaeolithic.

The Lower Palaeolithic is the earliest stage in the archaeological record from which stone tools are known, and while such ancient tools are rare, they are much more common than the remains of the Hominins which produced them, or any other remains of their activity, thus providing a key insight into the activities of our ancient ancestors. The first bifacial handaxes appear in the African archaeological record about 1.76 million years ago, and are considered to be a significant conceptual leap from the Oldowan core-and-flake technology which preceded them, although whether these axes had an entirely novel function or were a new technological approach to tasks which were already undertaken is unclear. One of the notable manifestations of this technology was the manufacture of 'giant' handaxes, notably larger than other examples of these tools, sufficiently large that archaeologists are divided as to whether they had any practical function at all.

It has been suggested that the purpose of these giant axes may have been social rather than practical, with the production of such tools representing a significant time investment, and therefore being an indicator of patience and commitment to a project. Giant, highly symmetrical handaxes from British sites such as Furze Platt and Shrub Hill have been used to support this hypothesis. An alternative suggestion is that the Hominins involved may have found the manufacture of such giant axes an aesthetically pleasing activity in its own righty, an early sign of artistic expression emerging from the purely functional.

In a paper published in the journal Antiquity on 4 March 2024, Luke Dale of the Department of Archaeology at Durham University, Aaron Rawlinson, also of the Department of Archaeology at Durham University, and of the Department of Britain, Europe and Prehistory at the British Museum, Pete Knowles and Frederick Foulds, again of the Department of Archaeology at Durham University, Nick Ashton, also of the Department of Britain, Europe and Prehistory at the British Museum, David Bridgland of the Department of Geography at Durham University, and Mark White, once again of the Department of Archaeology at Durham University, present the results of a study of giant handaxes from across the British Lower Palaeolithic.

Dale et al. note that symmetry is often cited as a key feature of giant handaxes, but that no previous study appears to have actually looked at whether these axes are actually more symmetrical than other axes from the same period, nor whether the style or frequency of these objects varies over time. 

All giant handaxes are associated with the Acheulean technology, which in Britain was present by Marine Isotope Stage 13, about 500 000 years ago, and may have appeared as early as Marine Isotope Stage 15, about 600 000 years ago, if recent dates for the Fordwich and the Bytham River terraces are correct. The global climate underwent a series of oscilations during the Middle Pleistocene (781 000-126 000 years ago), which in Britain manifested as a series of warm interglacials during which Hominins invaded and settled the landscape, interspersed with colder glacial intervals during which they disappeared. This pattern results in a series of distinct cultural intervals within the British Acheulean, providing a potential opportunity to detect discrete phases in the manufacture of giant handaxes in Britain.

Dale et al. obtained data on 4160 handaxes of all sizes, from 47 sited dating to between Marine Isotope Stage 15 and Marine Isotope Stage 9. For convenience, each (odd) Marine Isotope Stages was considered to represent a warm phase, as well as the cool phases bracketing it, thus Marine Isotope Stage 11 in fact refers to the Marine Isotope Stage 10-11-12 cool-warm-cool cycle; each cycle therefore represents about 100 000 years. The warm phases covered by Dale et al.'s study are MIS 15 (approximately 610 000 to 560 000 years ago), MIS 13 (approximately 524 000-474 000 years ago), MIS 11 (approximately 427 000 to 364 000 years ago), MIS 9 (approximately 328 000-301 000 years ago. Many of the sites in the study are well dated, but others represent chronologically mixed assemblages, such as Dunbridge in Hampshire, where the artefacts were recovered from dredged aggregates, have only been tentatively dated, such as Whitlingham in Norfolk, or are known to have been the subject of collecting biases, such as Furze Platt in Berkshire. Dale et al. recognise that these factors will have an impact on the reliability of their study, but reason that the size of their dataset should offset this. They also note that a further two giant handaxes were discovered at Frindsbury in Kent after the initial daft of their study was submitted, and that these are thought to date to MIS 9.

Handaxes were divided into six classes on the basis of their symmetry, with Class 1 representing near perfect symetry, and Class 6 indicating almost no symmetry.

Dale et al. measured the length of all the 4160 handaxes in their study, splitting them into four categories; small (less than 80 mm in length), average (80-150 mm in length), large (150-220 mm in length) and giant (more than 220 mm in length.

Forty two of the handaxes fell into the 'giant' category, of which 33 can be confidently assigned to the MIS 9 cycle, the final stage of the Acheulian in Britain. A single giant axe was dated to MIS 11, and two to MIS 13 - although one of these is- derived from a MIS 6 gravel bed, and is interpreted as having been reworked from a MIS 13 deposit. Since MIS 9 only represents about 1% of the British Pleistocene record, this concentration of giant handaxes in MIS 9 deposits is interpreted as being significant.

In the 1960s archaeologist Derek Roe developed a system of classifying handaxes upon their shape. The majority of giant handaxes in Dale et al.'s study conform to Roe's Group I (pointed, with cleavers) and Group III (plano-convex), both of which are associated with MIS 9. Notably, handaxes in an assemblage from Broom on the Devon/Dorset border, which included several giant handaxes, while still from MIS 9, did not easily fit into Roe's scheme. The stone tools here were made from chert derived from the Upper Greensand, and tended to be ovate or asymmetrical, unlike other MIS 9 assemblages.

Other than the presence of giant handaxes in the MIS 9 material, the size distribution of handaxes between different interglacials varied little, with the average size of the axes varying only by 10-20%, although the MIS 15 handaxes appear on average slightly larger than those from later assemblages, and the MIS 11 assemblage contained a higher proportion of small handaxes than other stages. However, Dale et al. note that their MIS 15 material came from only two sites, Brandon Fields in Suffolk and Fordwich in Kent, with the material used at Fordwich being elongated pipeflint, which lends itself to the making of larger bifaced tools with a minimal amount of effort. Given this, Dale et al. are reluctant to read much into this data without further MIS 15 material becoming available.

Analysis also suggests that axes from MIS 13 and MIS 9 are on average larger than those from MIS 11, and MIS 9 axes are also slightly larger, on average, than those from MIS 13. Dale et al. are uncertain whether this variation relates to cultural differences between the different populations colonising Britain in each interglacial, and make no further assessment of this data at this time.

A comparison of handaxe length between MIS 15, 13, 11 and 9, with handaxes grouped according to length class. MIS 15 displays a greater proportion of handaxes in the large class, while small handaxes are much more limited. MIS 11 displays a greater proportion of small handaxes. Giant handaxes represent a very small percentage of the total assemblage, emphasising their status as extreme outliers beyond the usual variation in handaxe length. Frederick Foulds & Mark White in Dale et al. (2024).

The majority of giant handaxes come from the Thames Valley or its southern tributaries, although examples are also known from Norfolk Yare, the Axe Valley and Solent River deposits. The majority of sites where they are found are close to primary chalk-flint outcrops, where large flint nodules were available. However, some were found in flint-poor areas, such as Wolvercote and Stanton Harcourt in Oxfordshire, whereas older archaeological sites, such as Boxgrove in West Sussex, and Elveden in Suffolk, are located near excellent sources of large flint nodules, but yield no giant handaxes. 

No giant handaxes available from Stoke Newington in London, one of the UK's best MIS 9 sites, although it is known that the site did yield such axes; as the original excavator of the site, Victorian archaeologist Worthington Smith, illustrated several giant handaxes in his book, Man, the primeval savage, but then gave these away to distinguished visitors to the site; these axes are thought to be either in private collections or lost. 

Geological map displaying the locations of sites with giant handaxes in relation to underlying bedrock geology, coloured as per the British Geological Society scheme. Colours for chalk bedrock are highlighted in the legend. Note that large clasts in overlying superficial deposits largely reflect local geology and ‘exotic’ raw materials would generally be smaller in size. Dale et al. (2024).

Of the forty two giant handaxes in the study, thirty five (or 83%) are pointed, typically conforming to the lanceolate (lance-shaped) or ficron (having a pointed planform shape with biconcave edges) type. These shapes are considered to be part of the same typological grouping as chisel-ended cleavers, a grouping which is thought by many archaeologists to be restricted to MIS 9. Although ficrons are associated with giant axes, not all ficron handaxes are giant; known ficrons range in size from 63 mm to 307 mm.

Examples of giant pointed and ficron handaxes: (A) the ‘Beast of Biddenham’ (length 253 mm); (B) a giant ficron from Canterbury West (length 285mm) (photographs courtesy of the British Museum (A) and The Seaside Museum, Herne Bay (B)). Dale et al. (2024).

Since the overwhelming majority of the giant axes date from MIS 9, Dale et al. examined axes from this stage for their symmetry. Handaxes from this interval were found to vary a great deal in their degree of symmetry, although there was a direct corelation between axe length and symetry, with longer axes tending to be more symmetrical than shorter ones. 

Splitting the axes into groups based upon their size emphasised this trend, with axes in larger categories being more symmetrical than those in smaller size categories. Examination of earlier axes suggested that this tendency for larger axes to be more symmetrical was also present in MIS 11, but not MIS 15 or 13, although the number of axes available from the earlier periods makes this result less reliable. 

However, this tendency for larger axes to be more symmetrical in MIS 11 and 9 deposits may be influenced by another trend, which is for axes in general to be much more symmetrical in MIS 13 and 11, compared to other periods, and in particular to MIS 9. Thus, the increased symmetry seen in the large MIS 9 axes is balanced by a decrease in the symmetry seen in smaller axes, with the smallest axes (less thn 100 mm in length) tending to be roughly and quickly made, with very low symmetry. 

Giant handaxes are often cited as a key feature of Hominin cognitive and cultural development. Dale et al.'s study demonstrates that these items became prevalent in Britain during MIS 9, i.e. immediately prior to the Lower-Middle Palaeolithic transition, 300 000 and 250 000 years ago. This interval has already been identified as one of significant technological innovation, beginning with a non-handaxe phase, which was then followed by a period with handaxes, then a final phase in which a hierachical core-working technology, known as the proto-Levallois was introduced. The linking of giant handaxes to this stage adds another element to this increasing cultural complexity.

The presence of giant handaxes is often independent of the availability of suitable manufacturing materials, with giant handaxes known from areas of Oxfordshire where there are no sources of suitable large flints. This implies that either the raw material or the finished axes were transported for at least 25-40 km to the sites where they were found. This phenomenon has also been observed in France, with a giant handaxe found at Caune de l’Arago in Pyrénées-Orientales Department, more than 30 km from any suitable source of material. This transportation of materials is another new innovation from this phase, with most previous Lower Palaeolithic sites using stone sourced less than 5 km from the location where it was discovered. The increased effort being put into moving giant axes to locations away from the materials from which they were made lends further support to the hypothesis that these were valuable items, although another possibility is that these tools had a long working life, and were subject to regular reworking to maintain a sharp edge, which would explain the plano-convex form of many handaxes, including those at Wolvercote in Oxfordshire. Under this hypothesis, many large handaxes would have been discarded prematurely, before being extensively reduced.

Many of the giant handaxes are ficrons, a type of axe otherwise rare in Britain. Large ficrons are particularly striking objects, apparently crafted with care to maintain the length of the axe while reducing the width of the upper and central portions of the axe. This may have been a way to correct for a lack of symmetry in the original platform (the rock from which the ficron was made), or a sign of the tool having an extended lifespan, with regular resharpening. Another hypothesis is that the width reduction may have been a way to reduce the weight of the tool part of a general Acheulian trend for longer tools to be narrower. The alternative is that the ficron-shape was desired from the outset, and that the extra effort put into producing an axe of this shape is an indicator of the significance of the object to the people who made it. Whatever the truth, there does appear to be a link between the high symetry, large size, and unusual shape of these giant ficrons which appears to show a degree of artistry transcending the merely functional.

It has often been speculated that giant handaxes had no practical function, but experimentation has shown that examples far larger than anything found in Britain can be used as tools. Even the largest giant axes can be used two handed, can be used for digging, or can be used as static cutting tools across which materials could be drawn. Despite this possible functionality, all the British giant handaxes are distinctively formed and highly symmetrical, making it hard to believe that aesthetic considerations played no part in their manufacture. 

The oldest known giant axe is 1.6 million years old, and came from the Olduvai FLK West site in Tanzania. This is long before anything else considered to be even possibly an expression of communal artistic standards, and therefore was presumably made by an individual for reasons that were important to them alone. A more communal approach to aesthetics begins to appear about 500 000 years ago, at which point tools also being to appear which have been shaped to make the most of features such as fossils on the rock cortex. Giant handaxes may also represent an aesthetic development, with the size and symmetry of stone tools being increased to create visually pleasing objects. This implies the people who made these tools were capable in taking pleasure in creating such objects, which would imply an increasing level of cognitive and social development.

Giant handaxes may also have had some symbolic purpose. The manufacture and then apparent discarding of objects which take a degree of forward planning and labour investment may have been a way of marking territory, or signposting important locations to other members of the community.

The ability to produce giant handaxes clearly predates MIS 9; they are known from earlier in the Lower Palaeolithic and across the Acheulean world. A 300 mm-long lanceolate giant handaxe from Caune de l’Arago is thought to date from MIS 14, and other examples from across northern France, at sites including St Acheul and Thennes in the Somme Valley, Vaudricourt in Pas-de-Calais, and Montguillain in Oise Department, have variously been dated to MIS 11 and 9, although none of these dates are considered to be particularly secure. Giant handaxes are also known from the Levant and Middle East, though these tend to be less accurately dated. A 220 mm long example from Qesem Cave in Israel is thought to be between 420 000 and 200 000 years old, while a 265 mm-long basalt handaxe was found at Wadi Dabsa in Saudi Arabia. A site at Porto Maior in north-west Spain was occupied for a long interval across MIS 8-7, by a people of apparent African affinities, who regularly produced giant handaxes, picks and cleavers. Giant handaxes have been found at 23 sites across Africa, including Olduvai in Tanzania, where the largest such axe is 330 mm long and 1.4 million years old, Isenya in Kenya, where the largest axe is 253 mm long and 700 000 years old, and Kalambo Falls in Zambia, where the largest axe is 350 mm long and 300 years old. However, the African Acheulian, with which many sites in southern Europe and the Middle East are also associated, has a greater emphasis on large cleavers, picks, and handaxes, together referred to as 'large cutting tools'.

The MIS 9 giant handaxes from Britain appear to show a different phenomenon, a discrete technological interval in which larger, more symmetrical tools suddenly appeared. In France, the MIS 9 sites in the Somme Valley are the closest available to compare, with the Cagny l’Epinette locality producing 33 handaxes, the largest of which is still less than 170 mm in length, while the Revelles site has produced 52 handaxes, none more that 190 mm long. Ferme de l’Epinette, a MIS 10 site in the Somme Valley has produced 31 handaxes, all less than 180 mm long, while the MIS 9 stage of the Soucy complex in the Paris Basin has produced 178 handaxes, the largest of which are 155 mm long, and no handaxe from the entire complex exceeds 180 mm. The Orgnac Cave site in the Ardèche Department has a sequence of archaeological layers running from MIS 10 to MIS 8, but has produced no handaxes more than 200 mm in length. The MIS 9 layers at Menez-Dregan in Brittany have produced 29 handaxes, all less than 160 mm in length, although this may be because the tools are made from sandstone and microgranite beach pebbles which would not lend themselves to making bigger tools. This lack of large rocks for use as a source of tools may also account for the generally small handaxes found at Atapuerca in Spain.

Thus the production of giant handaxes in Britain appears to be a geographically, as well as chronologically, restricted phenomenon. This fits in with a more modern understanding of the Acheulian Culture, which includes many such small-scale variations, rather than being a single long-lived and widespread monoculture, as was once perceived. 

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Roman Triton statue uncovered at Teynham archaeological site in Kent, England.

A Triton statue has been unearthed by archaeologists excavating a Roman mausoleum at Teynham in Kent, southern England. A section of Roman wall was he discovered at the site in 2017 during exploratory excavation work by a commercial archaeological company, related to a planned roundabout on the A2 Road (which follows the path of the Roman Wattling Street), with formal excavations by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust beginning in May 2023. These excavations found that the wall section was part of a walled enclosure with an area of about 30 m³, surrounding a square structure with an area of about 8 m³, with the whole standing in a precinct enclosure 65 m by 70 m, and surrounded by a ditch. 

Plan of the Roman site excavated at Teynham in Kent. Canterbury Archaeological Trust.

Previous finds from the site include a Roman coin thought to date from between 320 and 330 AD, giving an approximate age to the site. The Triton figure was found placed carefully within a clay water tank which had been filled with burnt material, and lends support to the idea that the mausoleum is related to the nearby Bax Farm archaeological site, Roman villa decorated with maritime deities. 

A Roman Triton statue uncovered at Teynham in Kent. Canterbury Archaeological Trust.

The exact nature of Triton changed over time. To the Hellenistic Greeks, he was a son of Poseidon and Amphitrite (the God and Goddess of the Sea, respectively) and an important Sea God in his own right. To the Early Romans, he was a son of Neptune, a minor Sea God usually depicted as a Merman. However, over time this idea appears to have changed, with the singular God Triton turning into a more generic term for a race of Mermen, the Tritons, who served as messengers of the God Neptune. Given the presumed Late Roman date of the Teynham Mausoleum this may have been the intended nature of the Triton statue found there.

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