This richly illustrated book gives a detailed account of excavations that extended over ten years at Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, following the discovery of a mammoth tusk in 1989. More than 1500 vertebrate fossils and a wealth of other biological material were recorded and recovered, along with 36 stone artefacts attributable to Neanderthals.

The discovery in 1989 of a mammoth tusk in river gravels at Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, revealed the very different ancient past of this landscape. Here, some 200,000 years ago, mammoths, straight-tusked elephants, lions, and other animals roamed across grasslands with scattered trees, occasionally disturbed by small bands of Neanderthals.