Selected projects
4.19.8 Synthesis of the British Palaeolithic
The Southern Rivers Palaeolithic Survey and the subsequent English Rivers Palaeolithic Survey (carried out between 1991-94 and 1994-97, respectively) were commissioned by English Heritage to provide strategic information on Lower and Middle Palaeolithic sites throughout the country. A similar survey was also commissioned by CADW for Wales in 1996. The objective of this work was to detailed the relationship between the location of known Palaeolithic sites and the particular sediments associated with them, and to draw attention to those areas or deposits that have the potential to contain sites that might be worthy of protection. The collated information was provided to local authorities, which carry responsibility for the formulation of strategic plans and for planning decisions, to enable them to consider the appropriate responses to applications on the basis of detailed information.
The survey of England used the main river drainage systems as the basis for describing the Palaeolithic remains and Pleistocene sediments, and 12 regions were defined. Two regions were surveyed each year, and each year the results of this work were distributed in the form of technical reports in two volumes of text and gazetteer, which described the background to the period, details of sites and findspots, and a book of maps showing the geology and sites. Six volumes for England and one for Wales were distributed.
The surveys produced a wealth of information, much of it new, and it is clear that some form of further published synthesis would be appropriate to draw attention to this information and to make it more accessible. Wessex Archaeology have therefore been commissioned to produce a major publication titled The Lower Palaeolithic occupation of Britain. This will integrate the information recorded in the course of the six years of survey with the tangible evidence for the Lower Palaeolithic period and the palaeogeography of Britain during the Middle and Late Pleistocene periods. The volume will take a landscape approach to describing and interpreting the material, having set out in its earlier chapters the background to the period, the mode of life of the people, the nature of the evidence, flora, fauna, geology and climate, and dating methods. The intention is to make the information available to a wide audience, and not to produce a work that is accessible only to a limited number of Quaternary period specialists. The draft for this report will be completed in 1998 for publication in 1999.