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Oldbury rock shelters
The Southern Rock Shelter on Oldbury Hill.jpg
The southern rock shelter
Oldbury rock shelters
Oldbury rock shelters
Location in the United Kingdom
Location Oldbury hillfort near Ightham
Region Kent
Coordinates 51°17′9.8″N 0°16′9.6″E / 51.286056°N 0.269333°E / 51.286056; 0.269333
History
Periods Middle Palaeolithic
Cultures Mousterian

The Oldbury rock shelters are a complex of Middle Palaeolithic sites situated on the slopes of Oldbury hillfort near Ightham in the English county of Kent.

They were occupied by Mousterian flint tool manufacturers around 50,000 years ago and examples of their characteristic bout-coupé handaxes were found there during excavations in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Interior of the Southern Rock Shelter on Oldbury Hill
The interior of the southern rock shelter

The site is open to the public and owned by the National Trust.

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