Extreme heat, dangerous wild animals and a diet of raw meat - this striking picture shows Sussex as early man knew it.

They show how the first residents of Sussex had to be quick on their feet as they faced surviving on a diet which included lions, panthers and bears.

A series of illustrations commissioned by archaeologists is bringing history to life including the days before the Ice Age, when Boxgrove Man and other members of his tribe went hunting armed with primitive weapons.

The paintings by artist Mike Codd are more than a figment of his imagination.

All are based on evidence uncovered after archaeologists discovered a human shin bone in a quarry at Boxgrove, near Chichester, in 1993 which turned out to be the oldest human remain found in Europe.

Carbon dating showed it belonged to a 6ft man who lived thousands years ago.

He survived on a diet of uncooked meat in an area of cliff face between Arundel and Portsdown Hill in Hampshire, with the land below it stretching to northern France.

Instead of the cows and sheep which graze the countryside of Sussex today, the intimidating terrain was home to animals now only seen on a trip to the zoo or a safari holiday.

Caroline Adams, senior archivist at the West Sussex Record Office, where the exhibition has opened, said: "The hot extreme landscape that today we associate with the African savannah was populated with elephants, rhinoceros, panthers, lions, giant deer, wolves, bears, wild cats and horses.

"Early man was here too, bigger and stronger than his modern descendants but there is no evidence he was using fire or cooking meat."

The discovery of Boxgrove Man caused a stir during the Nineties but a further search of the quarry failed to uncover the prize which archaeologists really treasured, his skull.

However, scientists were still able to compile a mass of information because the site also contained hundreds of animal bones.

They also found marks on the shin bone which showed Boxgrove Man may have been killed by a wild animal because of teeth marks showing his flesh had been gnawed at.

The evidence was compiled into a detailed brief which helped Mr Codd produce graphic illustrations for the Chichester exhibition which also features how the city may have looked during the Roman occupation and a winter scene of a Norman castle which stood in what is now the city's Priory Park.

It also features Bronze Age burial mounds discovered near to the South Downs Way at Treyford.

Mark Taylor, senior archaeologist for West Sussex County Council, said: "There is an element of artistic licence in the paintings but they are also based on documentary and scientific evidence.

"They help bring history to life and will make particular sites and archaeology more accessible to people."

The illustrations will be used on a web site and on visitor interpretation boards and leaflets to help explain the significance of the sites.

Mr Codd said the archaeologists had provided very detailed information for him to work on.

He said: "They are, at the end of the day, artists' impressions but I hope they are as close to what anyone can find out about the various sites.

"Boxgrove is probably a little more speculative but everything you can see in the picture has been found.

"I have brought a bit of drama to it because all the creatures are in one picture when the landscape would have been more spread out along the South Coast."

West Sussex councillor Martin Daws-Chew, who advises the ruling Cabinet on archive issues, said: "This is an imaginative exhibition of views of a very different county to the one we know today."

The exhibition runs until April 27 at the record office in Orchard Street, Chichester, and is open Monday to Friday 9.15am to 4.45pm and on Saturdays from 9.15pm.