AN ELEPHANT skeleton dating back 400,000 years has been unearthed by archaeologists at the site of the new Ebbsfleet station near Northfleet.

The work on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) has found the Early Stone Age site including the remains of the elephant.

The major find was surrounded by flint tools lying undisturbed where they were originally discarded.

Few elephant remains have been found in Britain and this is the first to indicate butchery of the carcass by early humans.

The skeleton has been identified as a straight-tusked Palaeoloxodon Antiquus - an extinct species last seen in Britain more than 100,000 years ago.

These elephants, which were completely different from the more widely-known mammoths, would have made an impressive sight being over twice the size of the largest modern African elephant.

Bones from other large animals including rhinoceros, buffalo and wild horse have also been found nearby.

The remains were preserved in muddy sediment near what was then the edge of a small lake.

The archaeological investigation is being carried out by Oxford Archaeology on behalf of CTRL project managers Rail Link Engineering (RLE) and its client Union Railways (North).

Helen Glass, archaeology manager for RLE said: "This find is an amazing discovery.

"During pre-construction investigations across the Ebbsfleet Valley we found an Anglo-Saxon mill as well as the substantial remains of a Roman town and villa complex.

"We thought we had found everything but it seems that the best has been saved until last."

The site was first discovered late last year by Dr Francis Wenban-Smith, of Southampton University, during routine archaeological monitoring as construction work started.

The elephant skeleton was discovered in April during the detailed excavations which followed.

Dr Wenban-Smith told KM-fm's James Phillis it was an incredibly lucky discovery...