In 1990 a Late Bronze Age enclosure was excavated by The Surrey County Archaeological Unit in a low-lying meadow north-west of Staines, after its discovery in an evaluation undertaken ahead of gravel extraction. Since then, Church Lammas meadow has largely been worked-out, but each new phase of operations has been monitored by staff of the Unit to ensure that unexpected archaeological finds and the courses of buried stream channels were recorded. Flint blades of unusual length were recorded in late 1994 during the latest phase of subsoil stripping.
Their source was identified as within, and just below, a thin band of dark grey clay that appeared to represent a small surviving pocket of intact stratigraphy. It became apparent, however, not only that rather more of the dark grey layer remained undisturbed than was previously thought, but also that the growing collection of tools and debitage was clearly an Upper Palaeolithic assemblage and the site was consequently of considerable significance. The association of animal bone in the same layer with the flints was another indication of the importance of the site, which seemed most closely comparable to the Late Glacial scatter at Three Ways Wharf, Uxbridge, 12km upstream and to the north of Church Lammas on the River Colne.
It became imperative that every attempt should be made to excavate whatever was left of the newly discovered site. It had unfortunately, but not surprisingly, eluded detection during the prior evaluation of the meadow by trial-trenching in 1990, and the quarry operators, Greenhams Ltd, who had generously funded the excavation of the Bronze Age enclosure, and who remained committed to the funding of its post-excavation work and the on-going monitoring of their operations, understandably felt unable to contribute more. English Heritage agreed that in these circumstances the site was clearly of sufficient importance to qualify for financial support, both for an excavation and for the assistance of environmental scientists from the Ancient Monuments Laboratory.
On excavation it was clear that to the north and west any original stratigraphy had already been destroyed, and the priority was to discover how far the spread of flints and bone extended to the south and east. Contractors' spoil heaps were cleared and layers of soil and alluvium were removed by machine to just above the dark clay layer over an area of c 700 sq m. Ditches of two successive field systems of later prehistoric and Roman or medieval date were revealed, but of more concern was the southern arm of an early post-medieval ditched rectilinear stock enclosure. This ditch had cut a 3.5m wide swathe through all earlier deposits very close to the previous discoveries of in situ finds of Upper Palaeolithic material, and it began to be suspected that much of the southern part of the scatter might also have been destroyed. Nevertheless, all of the cleared area was gridded and several metre squares were excavated by hand to discover the extent of any surviving scatters of Palaeolithic material. The concentration previously discovered in the west of the site and immediately north of the post-medieval ditch, however, proved to be the only one present.
Where the concentration of flints was greatest, all metre squares were excavated. Most struck flints came from the dark grey clay layer, but many others were retrieved from the uppermost 100mm of the underlying silt deposit, and a few more had been worked up into the partially iron-panned grey/brown clay above. Two irregular hollows interrupted the sequence of these deposits, and had formed at a later date than the deposition of the dark grey clay. Both were roughly oval, and had several peripheral and sinuous hollows that undercut adjacent deposits. They were filled with dark grey clay that contained a high proportion of biogenetic iron mineral grains that increased in quantity with depth. These may have been the base plate hollows of trees that established themselves after the human usage of the site.
The contractors' clearance of the `overburden' north and west of the cleared area had not been so deep as to totally destroy the peaty clay fill of a hollow which seemed to belong to the same stratigraphic horizon as the dark clay layer found further south. A few Upper Palaeolithic-type flints and some animal bone fragments had been retrieved from this deposit during the watching brief, and the opportunity for controlled excavation and environmental sampling was now taken, but few additional finds were made in this area. It was established, however, that the hollow had been one of several that had lain along a north-west/south-east axis through the eastern part of the stripped area, approximately 18m from the main concentration of finds. These hollows probably represent the basal parts of a watercourse that had become choked with organic muds when it migrated across the floodplain. The peaty clays of the hollow were demonstrated to have been contiguous with the dark grey clay layer found further to the south-west, which must represent an on-shore deposit along the fringe of the watercourse. Whether this had simply been a turf line or else had been darkened by human agency has not yet been established.
326 struck flints were recovered from the spread of finds and provisional analysis has identified seven obliquely blunted points prepared on the distal ends of blades, three microliths with similar retouch, and another indeterminate microlith. There are also 43 other retouched flakes, blades, and long blades, another 30 that were utilised, and seven that were prepared for use as burins. These represent 28% of the entire collection. Most of the rest is knapping debris, with the possible exception of some unmodified flints that may have been purposefully prepared. These include over 50 snapped blade segments, many of which seem to have been broken into regular lengths. Not all of the finely made long blades (18 examples over 120mm long) or the crested blades (nine examples) had been retouched or utilised before being lost or discarded. There are 14 cores and two core/hammerstones. Nine of these were made on river pebbles, that could only have produced a few rough flakes, but the others are of good quality flint (unfractured nodules capable of producing long blades). Nodule reduction flakes (18) and core rejuvenation flakes have also been identified. Although the most striking aspect of the assemblage is the long blades and crested blades, there are approximately equal numbers of flakes and blades, and the dimensions of most blades, both entire and segmented, are similar to those of typical Mesolithic assemblages.
Very little animal bone was found in association with the concentration of flints, and most fragments are in poor condition. Some larger pieces were recovered from the sunken area of peaty clay to the north-west, but none has yet been identified. At least 24 of the flint flakes, more than ten of the blades, and a few fragments of animal bone are burnt, which may indicate that, as well as being a flint-knapping and animal dismemberment site, a fire might have been set for the further preparation of food. Appropriate analysis of the material will be carried out after the full assessment of the finds and deposit samples.
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