Stone age tools found at US Embassy

Dig this: the Flintstones may have been the original occupants of the site of the new US Embassy in Nine Elms if artefacts unearthed in a recent archaeological survey are confirmed to date back to the stone age.

The tools and chips of flint could point to settlements in London dating as far back as 800,000 years, the oldest human habitation yet discovered in the capital.

“Prehistoric sites are rare in London owing to their ephemeral nature as well as urban development,” explained Kasia Olchowska, a Senior Archaeologist for Museum of London Archaeology.

“What we have found may be the earliest archaeological evidence currently known from London.”

The excavation also unearthed a 12-metre long prehistoric fish trap and evidence of camp fires have also been found as well as a range of Mesolithic and Bronze Age finds.

Further analysis of the finds needs to be carried out to establish firm dates and learn more about their production and use.