A boy who found a shiny rock while playing at a beach has been told the item is a Neanderthal hand axe that could be 60,000 years old.

Ben, from Shoreham, West Sussex, discovered the axe at Shoreham Beach when he was only six years old, and kept it in his room for three years.

It was only when the boy, now aged nine, went to Worthing Museum three weeks ago and saw the Stone Age exhibition that he realised he had a similar looking item at home.

The museum, which is now exhibiting the axe, said it was “almost certainly made by a Neanderthal” between 40,000 to 60,000 years ago.