Mapping the human record in the British early Palaeolithic: Evidence from the Solent River system

Journal of Quaternary Science

Volumn 25, Issue 5, 2010, Pages 737-753

  Ashton, Nick ^a   Hosfield, Rob ^b  

^a BRITISH MUSEUM   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF READING   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Demography; Handaxes; Levallois; Palaeolithic; Solent River; Terrace stratigraphy

Indexed keywords

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE; ARTIFACT; DEMOGRAPHY; HISTORICAL RECORD; MAPPING; PALEOGEOGRAPHY; PALEOLITHIC; QUARRYING; URBANIZATION;

ENGLAND; SOLENT; UNITED KINGDOM;

EID: 78049467015     PISSN: 02678179     EISSN: 10991417     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/jqs.1350     Document Type: Article

References (77)

1. Aldhouse-Green SHR. 1995. Pontnewydd Cave, Wales; a later Middle Pleistocene hominid archaeological site: a review of stratigraphy, dating, taphonomy and interpretation. In Human Evolution in Europe and the Atapuerca Evidence, Bermudez de Castro JM, Arsuaga JL, Carbonell E (eds). Junta de Castilla y León: Valladolid, Spain; 37-55.
2. Allen LG. 1991. The evolution of the Solent River system during the Pleistocene. PhD thesis, University of Cambridge.
3. Allen LG, Gibbard PL. 1993. Pleistocene evolution of the Solent River of southern England. Quaternary Science Reviews 12: 503-528.
4. Allen LG, Gibbard PL, Pettit ME, Preece RC, Robinson JE. 1996. Late Pleistocene interglacial deposits at Pennington Marshes, Lymington, Hampshire, southern England. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 107: 39-50.
5. Ashton NM. 1998. The taphonomy of the flint assemblages. In Excavations at the Lower Palaeolithic Site at East Farm, Barnham, Suffolk 1989-94, Ashton NM, Lewis SG, Parfitt SA (eds). Occasional Paper 125, British Museum: London; 183-204.
6. Ashton NM. 2002. Absence of humans in Britain during the last interglacial (oxygen isotope stage 5e). In Le Dernier Interglaciaire et les Occupations humaines du Paléolithique Moyen, Roebroeks W, Tuffreau A (eds). CERP: Lille; 93-103.
7. Ashton NM, Lewis SG. 2002. Deserted Britain: declining populations in the British Late Middle Pleistocene. Antiquity 76: 388-396.
8. Ashton NM, Jacobi RM, White MJ. 2003. The dating of Levallois sites in west London. Quaternary Newsletter 99: 25-32.
9. Ashton NM, Lewis SG, Parfitt SA, White MJ. 2006. Riparian landscapes and human habitat preferences during the Hoxnian (MIS 11) Interglacial. Journal of Quaternary Science 21: 497-505.
10. Ashton NM, Lewis SG, Parfitt SA, Penkman KEH, Coope GR. 2008. New evidence for complex climate change in MIS 11 from Hoxne, UK. Quaternary Science Reviews 27: 652-668.
11. Ashton NM, Lewis SG, Hosfield RT. 2009. Mapping the human record: population change in Britain during the later Middle Pleistocene. In The Ancient Human Occupation of Britain, Ashton NM, Lewis SG, Stringer CB (eds). Elsevier: Amsterdam; (in press).
12. Barber KE, Brown AG. 1987. Late Pleistocene organic deposits beneath the floodplain of the River Avon at Ibsley, Hampshire. In Wessex and Isle of Wight: Field Guide, Barber KE (ed.) Quaternary Research Association: Cambridge, UK; 62-74.
13. Briant RM, Schwenninger J-L. 2009. Solent river gravels at Badminston Farm, Hampshire SU 463 019. In The Quaternary of the Solent Basin and West Sussex Raised Beaches: Field Guide, Briant RM, Bates MR, Hosfield RT, Wenban-Smith FF (eds). Quaternary Research Association: London; 189-197.
14. Briant RM, Bates MR, Schwenninger J-L, Wenban-Smith F. 2006. An optically stimulated luminescence dated Middle to Late Pleistocene fluvial sequence from the western Solent Basin, southern England. Journal of Quaternary Science 21: 507-523.
15. Briant RM, Bates MR, Boreham S, Cameron NG, Coope GR, Field MH, Keen DH, Simons RMJ, Schwenninger J-L, Wenban-Smith FF, Whittaker JE. 2009a. Gravels and interglacial sediments at Stone Point Site of Special Scientific Interest, Lepe Country Park, Hampshire. In The Quaternary of the Solent Basin and West Sussex Raised Beaches: Field Guide, Briant RM, Bates MR, Hosfield RT, Wenban-Smith FF (eds). Quaternary Research Association: London; 171-188.
16. Briant RM, Bates MR, Hosfield RT, Wenban-Smith FF (eds). 2009b. The Quaternary of the Solent Basin and West Sussex Raised Beaches: Field Guide. Quaternary Research Association: London.
17. Briant RM, Wenban-Smith FF, Schwenninger J-L. 2009c. Solent river gravels at Barton-on-Sea, Hampshire SZ 230 930. In The Quaternary of the Solent Basin and West Sussex Raised Beaches: Field Guide, Briant RM, Bates MR, Hosfield RT, Wenban-Smith FF (eds). Quaternary Research Association: London; 161-170.
18. Bridgland DR. 1985. Uniclinal shifting: a speculative reappraisal based on terrace distribution in the London Basin. Quaternary Newsletter 47: 26-33.
19. Bridgland DR. 1994. The Quaternary of the Thames. Chapman & Hall: London.
20. Bridgland DR. 2001. The Pleistocene evolution and Palaeolithic occupation of the Solent River. In Palaeolithic Archaeology of the Solent River, Wenban-Smith FF, Hosfield RT (eds). Occasional Paper 7, Lithic Studies Society: Southampton; 15-25.
21. Bristow CR, Freshney EC, Penn IE. 1991. Geology of the Country around Bournemouth: Memoir for 1:50, 000 Geological Map Sheet 329 (England and Wales). HMSO: London.
22. Burkitt MC, Paterson TT, Mogridge CJ. 1939. The Lower Palaeolithic industries near Warsash, Hampshire. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 5: 39-50.
23. Bury H. 1923. Some aspects of the Hampshire plateau gravels. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia 4: 15-41.
24. Bury H. 1933. The plateau gravels of the Bournemouth area. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 44 (3): 314-335.
25. Busschers FS, van Balen RT, Cohen KM, Kasse C, Weerts HJT, Wallinga J, Bunnik FPM. 2008. Response of the Rhine-Meuse fluvial system to Saalian ice-sheet dynamics. Boreas 37: 377-398.
26. Calkin JB, Green JFN. 1949. Palaeoliths and terraces near Bournemouth. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 15: 21-37.
27. Chambers JC. 2005. River gravels and handaxes: new experiments in site formation, stone tool transportation and transformation. In Experimentelle Archäologie in Europa, Bilanz 2004, Heft 3, Fansa M (ed.) Isensee Verlag: Oldenburg; 25-41.
28. Clarke MR. 1981. The Sand and Gravel Resources of the Country North of Bournemouth, Dorset. Description of Parts of 1:25, 000 Sheets SU 00, 10, 20, SZ 09 19 and 29. Mineral Assessment Report 51, Institute of Geological Sciences. HMSO: London.
29. Crawford OSG, Ellaway JR, Willis GW. 1922. The antiquity of man in Hampshire. Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club 9: 173-188.
30. Currant AP. 1986. Man and Quaternary interglacial faunas of Britain. In The Palaeolithic of Britain and its Nearest Neighbours, Collcutt SN (ed.) University of Sheffield: Sheffield; 50-52.
31. Currant AP, Jacobi RJ. 2001. A formal mammalian hiostratigraphy for the Late Pleistocene of Britain. Quaternary Science Reviews 20: 1707-1716.
32. Edwards RA, Freshney EC. 1987. Geology of the Country Around Southampton: Memoir for 1:50, 000 Geological Map Sheet 315 (England and Wales). HMSO: London.
33. Evans J. 1897. The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain. Longmans, Green and Co.: London.
34. Gamble CS. 1987. Man the shoveler: alternative models for Pleistocene colonisation and occupation in northern latitudes. In The Pleistocene Old World: Regional Perspectives, Soffer O (ed.) Plenum Press: New York; 81-98.
35. Gamble CS. 1992. Comment on Roebroeks W, Conard NJ, van Kolfschoten T. Dense forests, cold steppes and the Paleolithic settlement of northern Europe. Current Anthropology 33: 569-571.
36. Gibbard PL. 1995. The formation of the Strait of Dover. In Island Britain: A Quaternary Perspective, Preece RC (ed.) Special Publication 96, Geological Society: London; 15-26.
37. Gibbard PL. 2007. Palaeogeography: Europe cut adrift. Nature 448: 259-260.
38. Green HS. 1984. Pontnewydd Cave: A Lower Palaeolithic Hominid site in Wales. National Museum of Wales: Cardiff.
39. Green JFN. 1946. The terraces of Bournemouth, Hants. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 57: 82-101.
40. Green JFN. 1947. Some gravels and gravel-pits in Hampshire and Dorset. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 58: 128-143.
41. Gupta S, Collier JS, Palmer-Felgate A, Potter G. 2007. Catastrophic flooding origin of shelf valley systems in the English Channel. Nature 448: 342-345.
42. Harding P, Gibbard PL, Lewin J, Macklin MG, Moss EH. 1987. The transport and abrasion of flint handaxes in a gravel-bed river. In The Human Uses of Flint and Chert: Proceedings of the Fourth International Flint Symposium, Sieveking G de G, Newcomer MH (eds). Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK; 115-126.
43. Hosfield RT. 1999. The Palaeolithic of the Hampshire Basin: A Regional Model of Hominid Behaviour during the Middle Pleistocene, BAR British series 286, Archaeopress: Oxford.
44. Hosfield RT. 2001. The Lower Palaeolithic of the Solent: 'site' formation and interpretive frameworks. In Palaeolithic Archaeology of the Solent River, Wenban-Smith FF, Hosfield RT (eds). Occasional Paper 7, Lithic Studies Society: Southampton; 85-97.
45. Hosfield RT. 2005. Individuals among palimpsest data: fluvial landscapes in southern England. In The Hominid Individual in Context, Gamble CB, Porr M (eds). Routledge: London; 220-243.
46. Hosfield RT, Chambers JC. 2005. River gravels and flakes: new experiments in site formation, stone tool transportation and transformation. In Experimentelle Archäologie in Europa, Bilanz 2004, Heft 3, Fansa M (ed.) Isensee: Oldenburg; 57-74.
47. Hosfield RT, Chambers JC. 2009. Genuine diversity? The Broom biface assemblage. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 75: (in press).
48. Kerney MP. 1971. Interglacial deposits in Barnfield Pit, Swanscombe, and their molluscan fauna. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 127: 69-93.
49. Kubala M. 1980. The sand and gravel resources of the country around Fordingbridge, Hampshire. Description of 1:25, 000 Sheet SU 11 and Parts of SU 00, 01, 10, 20 and 21. Institute of Geological Sciences Mineral Assessment Report 50. HMSO: London.
50. Lagarde JL, Amorese D, Font M, Laville E, Dugué O. 2003. The structural evolution of the English Channel area. Journal of Quaternary Science 18: 201-213.
51. Marshall GD. 2001. The Broom pits: a review of research and a pilot study of two Acheulian biface assemblages. In Palaeolithic Archaeology of the Solent River, Wenban-Smith FF, Hosfield RT (eds). Occasional Paper 7, Lithic Studies Society: Southampton; 77-84.
52. Mathers SJ. 1982a. The Sand and Gravel Resources of the Country around Lymington and Beaulieu, Hampshire. Description of Parts of 1:25, 000 sheets SU 20, 30 and 40 and SZ 29, 39 and 49. Mineral Assessment Report 122, Institute of Geological Sciences. HMSO: London.
53. Mathers SJ. 1982b. The Sand and Gravel Resources of the Country between Dorchester and Wareham, Dorset. Description of Parts of 1:25, 000 sheets SY 68, 69, 78, 79, 88, 89, 98 and 99, Mineral Assess-ment Report 103, Institute of Geological Sciences. HMSO: London.
54. McNabb J. 2007. The British Lower Palaeolithic: Stones in Contention. Routledge: London.
55. Parfitt SA, Barendregt RW, Breda M, Candy I, Collins MJ, Coope GR, Durbidge P, Field MH, Lee JR, Lister AM, Mutch R, Penkman KEH, Preece RC, Rose J, Stringer CB, Symmons R, Whittaker JE, Wymer JJ, Stuart AJ. 2005. The earliest record of human activity in Northern Europe. Nature 438: 1008-1012.
56. Roberts MB, Parfitt SA. 1999. Boxgrove: A Middle Pleistocene Hominid Site at Eartham Quarry, Boxgrove, West Sussex. English Heritage: London.
57. Roe DA. 1968. A Gazetteer of British Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Sites. Research Report 8, Council for British Archaeology: York.
58. Roe HM. 2001. The Late Middle Pleistocene biostratigraphy of the Thames Valley, England: new data from eastern Essex. Quaternary Science Reviews 20: 1603-1619.
59. Roebroeks W, Conard NJ, van Kolfschoten T. 1992. Dense forests, cold steppes and the Paleolithic settlement of northern Europe. Current Anthropology 33: 551-567.
60. Scott B. 2006. The Early Middle Palaeolithic of Britain: origins, technology and landscape. PhD thesis, University of Durham.
61. Scott B, Ashton NM. 2009. The early Middle Palaeolithic: the European context. In The Ancient Human Occupation of Britain, Ashton NM, Lewis SG, Stringer CB (eds). Elsevier: Amsterdam; (in press).
62. Shackley ML. 1974. Stream abrasion of flint implements. Nature 248: 501-502.
63. Smith AJ. 1985. A catastrophic origin for the palaeovalley system of the eastern English Channel. Marine Geology 64: 65-75.
64. Stapert D. 1976. Some natural surface modification on flint in the Netherlands. Palaeohistoria 18: 8-41.
65. Stuart AJ. 1976. The history of the mammal fauna during the Ipswichian/Last Interglacial in England. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B276: 221-250.
66. Toms P, Hosfield RT, Chambers JC, Green CP, Marshall P. 2005. Optical dating of the Broom Palaeolithic sites, Devon & Dorset. Centre for Archaeology Report 16/2005, English Heritage: London.
67. Toucanne S, Zaragosi S, Bourillet JF, Cremer M, Eynaud F, Van Vliet-Lanoe B, Penaud A, Fontanier C, Turon JL, Cortijo E, Gibbard PL. 2009. Timing of massive 'Fleuve Manche' discharges over the last 350 kyr: insights into the European ice-sheet oscillations and the European drainage network from MIS 10 to 2. Quaternary Science Reviews 28: 1238-1256.
68. Wenban-Smith FF. 2001. As represented by the Solent River: handaxes from Highfield, Southampton. In Palaeolithic Archaeology of the Solent River, Wenban-Smith FF, Hosfield RT (eds). Occasional Paper 7, Lithic Studies Society: Southampton; 57-69.
69. Wessex Archaeology. 1993. The Southern Rivers Palaeolithic Project Report No. 1. 1991-1992: The Upper Thames Valley, the Kennet Valley and the Solent Drainage System. Wessex Archaeology: Salisbury.
70. West RG, Sparks BW. 1960. Coastal interglacial deposits of the English Channel. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B243: 95-133.
71. Westaway R, Bridgland DR, White MJ. 2006. The Quaternary uplift history of central southern England: evidence from the terraces of the Solent River system and nearby raised beaches. Quaternary Science Reviews 25: 2212-2250.
72. White MJ, Ashton NM. 2003. Lower Palaeolithic core technology and the origins of the Levallois method in north-western Europe. Current Anthropology 44: 598-609.
73. White MJ, Schreve D. 2000. Island Britain- peninsula Britain: palaeogeography, colonisation, and the Lower Palaeolithic settlement of the British Isles. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 66: 1-28.
74. White MJ, Scott B, Ashton NM. 2006. The Early Middle Palaeolithic in Britain: archaeology, settlement history and human behaviour. Journal of Quaternary Science 21: 525-541.
75. Whittaker K, Beasley M, Bates MR, Wenban-Smith FF. 2004. Harnham. British Archaeology 74: 22-27.
76. Wymer JJ. 1988. Palaeolithic archaeology and the British Quaternary sequence. Quaternary Science Reviews 7: 79-98.
77. Wymer JJ. 1999. The Lower Occupation of Britain. Trust for Wessex Archaeology and English Heritage: Salisbury.