The Lower And Middle Palaeolithic Periods In Sussex

(BAR 94, 1981)

This book deals with the earliest period of human settlement in Britain, proposing a series of archaeological stages for the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic periods. An introduction on the problems and methods of studying the Palaeolithic and Pleistocene periods leads into the technical argument, a sequence of development derived from evidence of stone artefacts and other signs of human activity at stratified sites in south-east England. Materials from all occupied parts of Britain are related to this basic sequence and, stressing that Britain lay on the edge of the Palaeolithic world, the author also brings in essential evidence from Europe and farther afield. The final chapter suggests the probable way of life of human groups in this period. This broad survey synthesises material from widely scattered sources including museums from all over Britain and has an extensive bibliography. Originally published in 1981.

This is the first review of the archaeology of this important landscape – from Palaeolithic to medieval times by contributors all routed in the archaeology of Sussex.

This volume provides a broad survey of recent advances in geoarchaeology with particular attention to environmental change. The fourteen chapters include methodologically innovative research, case studies valuable for teaching, and the use of geological techniques to answer archaeological questions from lower Paleolithic hunting to the location of Homer's Ithaca. Geoarchaeology, Climate Change, and Sustainability also includes a major position paper and, unusually, two papers on the management of the geoarchaeological resource. Both the geographical and chronological coverage are broad ranging from the Lower Paleolithic (lower Pleistocene) to the Iron Age (late Holocene), and from rural Iran to urban Manhattan. The research presented here clearly demonstrates the value and practical application of geoarchaeological techniques from sediment-based dating to geographic information systems.

The British Palaeolithic provides the first academic synthesis of the entire British Palaeolithic, from the earliest occupation to the end of the Ice Age. It fills a major gap in teaching resources as well in research by providing a current synthesis of the latest research on the period.

`Clay-with-flints' refers to deposits lying on the hilltops and plateaux of the Chalk Downlands of southern England. This study is based on the archaeology, geology and sedimentology of these deposits and forms a comprehensive review of the Palaeolithic stone tools found embedded within them. Evidence relating to the author's excavations at the Lower Palaeolithic site of Wood Hill in East Kent (1993-1994) provides the foundation for her discussion of these clay-with-flint deposits and the earliest occupation of southern England. Since this work presents much new information, two explanatory sections outline the theoretical analysis of the deposits and the processes of their function as well as the methodology for studying and identifying in-situ Palaeolithic material.