EVIDENCE of people living in Essex 600,000 years ago has been discovered in a school playing field.

Part of a flint, created by a human hand and thought to date back 600,000 years, was dug up underneath sports pitches at Westcliff High School for Girls.

Experts believe it was used by a human species called Boxgrove Man, and is possibly the second-oldest find of its kind in the country.

It is almost twice as old the previous oldest human settlement remains in the county.

Southend Central Museum’s archaeology expert Ken Crowe said: “The flint is very small, only about an inch or so long.

“But it’s the earliest evidence we have of occupation in Essex.

“So it’s very exciting for the museum and the town that we have evidence early humans were living here in that distant period of time.

“The discovery means early humans were living here before the River Thames took on its present form.

“It was a big river, but flowed in a different direction, a more northerly route. Glaciation pushed the river southwards to its present location.”

The flint, which is being kept at Southampton University, was actually discovered in 2005, but it has taken years for the date to be verified. The flint was dated by looking at the gravel it was buried in which are believed to have been deposited about 600,000 years ago.

It was discovered during investigations for the Medway Valley Palaeolithic Project, which was led by Francis Wenban-Smith of Southampton University’s archeological department.

The project was looking at prehistoric settlement along the Medway river, which then flowed through Essex, as well as Kent, and the Thames was just one of its tributaries. At the time of the discovery, the team was investigating ancient gravels below Westcliff High.

The humans living in Britain at that time were not modern humans, but a species called Homo heidelbergensis, or Boxgrove Man, whose remains have been found in Sussex.

There are no clues from the find into his lifestyle, but it is thought that Boxgrove Man wandered around in groups hunting and scavenging to survive.

A similar find of flint tools in Pakefield, Suffolk, is the oldest evidence of human activity in Britain at about 700,000 years old.

Claire Fox, Southend Museum spokeswoman, said: “I think it challenges people’s perception of the area. It pushes our timeline back a large chunk. We will be delighted when we get delivery of the flint and are able to put it on display “We will give it an appropriate position in the new display in the central museum.”

Ms Fox said she was not sure when the museum could get its hands on the flint, but estimated it could be about a year away.