User:Lauradcoleman/sandbox

The skeleton of an ancient species of elephant has been preserved in the sediment near what was once the edge of a small lake, revealed by excavations in advance of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. The skeleton was surrounded by flint tools, suggesting it was butchered for its meat by early humans of that era. Only a few elephant skeletons have been found in Britain. The Swanscombe example was discovered in 2004 by Palaeolithic archaeologist Francis Wenban-Smith and was identified by the Natural History Museum as the straight-tusked Palaeoloxodon antiquus, which became extinct over 100,000 years ago.