MP Gallery - Warlingham, Surrey, England - HW Site, mixed Middle Palaeolithic, with some Acheulian and Neolithic / h) figurine rotated 90° yields hippo-like zoomorphic shape

Comment: Rotated 90° yields a zoomorphic shape that I would identify as a hippopotamus. If this is indeed a representation of a hippopotamus, this confirms dating of some materials from HW/Pit Dip as at least 100,000 BP or older. Well dated records of Hippopotamus amphibius in the British Isles occur only during the Ipswichian (Eemian) Interglacial, c. 100,000 BP, after which it was extinct. Hippopotami swam in the Thames River during the Interglacial. The plateau site above the HW Site has a view of the distant Thames River. Prior to this, Hippopotamus sp. is recorded for the Cromerian, 500,000 BP.

Photo © James Harrod. Collection, James Harrod. The site is documented in Williams, R. (1987). Beestachtig en Beregoed (II): Steentijdtradities en rituele vuursteenskulpturen van Surrey, Engeland door Ron Williams. Archaeologische Berichten 18:13-38 (Elst, NL).