For three years, the British Ben Witten kept in his room a shiny stone that he found when he was 6 years old on Shoreham beach, without realizing that he owned a really valuable object.
He later went to Worthing Museum to an exhibition on the Stone Age, where objects very similar to what he thought was just a beautiful stone from the beach were on display. “I would just think it looks different from all the other pebbles,” he said.
His family contacted the museum’s curator, James Sainsbury, who didn’t expect much. He said it wasn’t the first time he had received an email about a find on the beach.
But on closer inspection it turned out to be an amazing object: a rare Neanderthal ax from an important moment in hominin history, the second ever found in Sussex, reports Noi.mdwith reference to .
The flawless condition of the ax led museum curator James Sainsbury to suspect that it had been protected underwater for thousands of years.
Sainsbury noted that the extremely rare Neanderthal ax was in such a “fresh” and undamaged condition that it could not have been washed ashore by waves.
Ben has agreed to hand over his priceless find to Worthing Theaters and Museum so they can display it until February.
