JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
A few years ago, a 6-year-old boy was wandering a beach in Southern England when he came across an unusual rock.
BEN WITTEN: I saw that rock, and it looked really different to all the other pebbles and stones.
SUMMERS: He held onto it for safe keeping. And fast-forward to this year, and he was visiting an exhibit of Stone Age artifacts at a local museum. And he saw something that looked a lot like his find from the beach. He took his rock into the museum, and they told him he had discovered something incredibly rare - a hand ax, some 40 to 60,000 years old, almost certainly made by a Neanderthal. That boy is now 9 years old, and he is here with me now. Ben Witten, welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
BEN: Hello.
SUMMERS: When you first picked it up, did you have any idea what you'd found? What did you think it was?
BEN: I thought it was probably some kind of crystal or old flint. I didn't really imagine it would be in a museum by now. I thought it was just something.
SUMMERS: Now, Ben, I understand that you've loaned your artifact that you found at the museum. Is that right?
BEN: Yeah.
SUMMERS: What is it like to see something that you collected actually in a museum now?
BEN: It feels really good, and I know it's a big deal, but it feels really exciting to let everyone see it, let everyone know. A 6-year-old boy found something from the Neanderthal times, and now it's in a museum.
SUMMERS: That made me wonder, do you have, like, a collection of other rocks at home?
BEN: Yeah, at home. I collect fossils and crystals. I've got quite a few upstairs. I've got a few fossils. Like, when I went to Jurassic Coast, I found quite a few ammonites.
SUMMERS: Does that make you think about the rest of your collection in a new way? Like, maybe there could be more treasures to be found in the things you already have at home.
BEN: Yeah. It feels cool that, like, if that got in, then maybe some of the other things that - I've got a lot - quite a large collection, but there's probably no chance any of the other ones would get in.
SUMMERS: And when you are not out there being a young treasure hunter and finding these incredible rocks and other crystals, what do you like to do for fun?
BEN: I like drawing. I like gaming, and what I really like is Pokemon. I like collecting it. I like playing the game.
SUMMERS: Me too. So, Ben, I know that you're only 9, but do you think you might be interested in an archaeology career?
BEN: Yeah. I do want to be an archaeologist. So do some of my friends at school, like Muhammed (ph) and Lily (ph). But I really like crystals. I like fossils. I know they aren't technically archaeology. But I'd love to be an archaeologist.
SUMMERS: Ben, do you have any advice for other young treasure hunters out there?
BEN: All I'd say is go with the flow. Go with your heart. Never give up, and go with what you believe will happen.
SUMMERS: Ben Witten, the boy who found a Neanderthal ax on the beach. Ben, thanks so much for joining us.
BEN: Thank you as well. It feels so good to be able to do this. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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