This handaxe was a chance find in an area of eastern England where research has led to the date of the earliest human occupation of Britain being pushed back by 300,000 years. Investigations further along the coast uncovered 850,000 year old footprints, the oldest human footprints outside Africa. At around 500,000 years old the later handaxe shows how early humans made versatile tools from the materials available in their environment and leads into a study of the lives of early people in Britain.