We studied the basic resonance structure of split ring resonator (SRR) and wire array at microwave X-band numerically. With proper design of parameters, this structure could achieve the absorptivity as high as 98% near the frequency of 10.91 GHz, and the FWHM of which is greater than 3.5 GHz. The scattering parameter retrieval method is employed to calculate the effective electromagnetic parameters. It is found that, close to the resonance frequency, the real components of the effective permittivity, permeability, and refractive index are all negative. However, the imaginary components of the electromagnetic parameters seem to be very large in the resonance region, which is the main reason of the high absorptivity. The broadband lefthanded metamaterial absorber presented in this paper has potential applications such as in electromagnetic heating and electromagnetic hiding.