9-year-old boy finds 60,000-year-old axe at Shoreham Beach in England

A young boy from England found a shiny item on a beach that turned out to be a "rare" ancient item dating back to the late Middle Paleolithic era. 

The boy — identified by Worthing Museum as Ben Witten, now 9 years old — discovered a shiny rock at Shoreham Beach in Sussex.

"I was looking around and I saw this shiny flint rock. I just thought it looked different [from] all the other different pebbles and stones," he told the BBC. 

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Over the next few years, Witten said he kept the shiny rock in his room.

He told the BBC he was constantly "losing it and finding it."

A trip to Worthing Museum changed everything for the boy. 

While exploring exhibits at the museum, he stopped by the Stone Age exhibition and noticed similarities to the item that he had found, according to the BBC. 

This led him to report his finding to the museum — where many more details were uncovered about the item that he had unearthed. 

The item turned out to be a hand axe from the late Middle Paleolithic period, an era dating back between 40,000 and 60,000 years ago, according to a Nov. 21 Facebook post by Worthing Museum. 

The museum said that the item was "almost certainly made by a Neanderthal."

"We regularly have visitors bring in their finds from the local area. Mostly these are other flint tools or Roman artifacts, but this is by far the oldest item shown to myself in 10-plus years," James Sainsbury, curator of archaeology at Worthing Museum, told Fox News Digital. 

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"Neanderthal hand axes are rare in Sussex," Sainsbury also said. "This is the first to be found in years. The nature of the find, being made by a young local boy on the beach, makes it doubly special."

The 9-year-old finder lent his discovery to the museum to be put on display. 

"I did want to keep it, but I felt like it would be better there than in my hands," Witten said, per the BBC.

"Ben has loaned us the axe until next February when it will be returned to him," Sainsbury told Fox News Digital. 

The museum, which offers free entry to guests, will have it on display until then. 

"We will get it recorded with the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme, ensuring there is a record of the find for future generations," he added.

The child's discovery shows that significant ancient items don't always come out of professional excavations. Sometimes, they come about by pure luck — and are discovered by young finders. 

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"I hope people realize that they don't need specialist training to find interesting archaeology. Coupled with that, it is incredibly important to report any finds so they can be properly recorded, otherwise that information is lost forever," said Sainsbury. 

A similar situation happened back in May, when a mom and her baby were gardening at their home in Poland. 

While they were digging together, the mother came across a strange object. Unsure of what it was, she reported the find, leading to further investigations. 

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Further research determined the find to be an axe from the Neolithic period, dating back 4,000 years. 

In August, it was revealed that a 12-year-old boy and his mother were walking their dog in England back in 2022 when they stumbled upon a gold bracelet. 

They didn't know what its value or historical significance, so they reported it to a local finds liaison officer for answers.  

The discovery turned out to be a piece of Roman jewelry, likely belonging to a man in the military during the first century A.D. 

Reporting a possible ancient find is paramount, experts note. There are many finds that go unreported, and the historical significance behind them is left undiscovered. 

"It is of utmost importance to report any finds or sites that are discovered by the public," Sainsbury told Fox News Digital. 

"This is best archaeological practice. Many finds are made but not all are reported. Those that aren't shown to us lose all of their historic value as their context is lost."