Martin Bates

Hominin footprints from early Pleistocene deposits at Happisburgh, UK.

Investigations at Happisburgh, UK, have revealed the oldest known hominin footprint surface outside Africa at between ca. 1 million and 0.78 million years ago. The site has long been recognised for the preservation of sediments containing Early Pleistocene fauna and flora, but since 2005 has also yielded humanly made flint artefacts, extending the record of human occupation of northern Europe by at least 350,000 years. The sediments consist of sands, gravels and laminated silts laid down by a large river within the upper reaches of its estuary. In May 2013 extensive areas of the laminated sediments were exposed on the foreshore. On the surface of one of the laminated silt horizons a series of hollows was revealed in an area of ca. 12 m2. The surface was recorded using multi-image photogrammetry which showed that the hollows are distinctly elongated and the majority fall within the range of juvenile to adult hominin foot sizes. In many cases the arch and front/back of the foot can be identified and in one case the impression of toes can be seen. Using foot length to stature ratios, the hominins are estimated to have been between ca. 0.93 and 1.73 m in height, suggestive of a group of mixed ages. The orientation of the prints indicates movement in a southerly direction on mud-flats along the river edge. Early Pleistocene human fossils are extremely rare in Europe, with no evidence from the UK. The only known species in western Europe of a similar age is Homo antecessor, whose fossil remains have been found at Atapuerca, Spain. The foot sizes and estimated stature of the hominins from Happisburgh fall within the range derived from the fossil evidence of Homo antecessor.

Excavation of the Lower Palaeolithic Site at Amey's Eartham Pit, Boxgrove, West Sussex: A Preliminary Report

The acheulian site at Boxgrove contains one of the most extensive areas of in situ fauna and flintwork yet discovered in Britain. This material is found in a complex sequence of sediments which represent depositional conditions from a 42 m sea level rise to the onset of a full periglacial climate. Excavation of the archaeological horizon has been accompanied by a programme of multidisciplinary research examining site formation processes, palaeolandscape and palaeoecological development, using sedimentological and environmental reconstruction techniques. Dating of the site is tentative as no absolute dates are available at present. However, comparative analysis with other British sites would suggest a position for the Boxgrove sequence within the Middle Pleistocene. The archaeological horizon is interpreted as being deposited towards the latter part of an interglacial or an interstadial period.

The chronology, palaeogeography and archaeological significance of the marine quaternary record of the West Sussex coastal plain, Southern England, U.K.

Abstract The Quaternary sediments of the West Sussex Coastal Plain have produced a wide range of floral, faunal and archaeological remains. These sediments consist of marine sands and gravels exhibiting transgressive and regressive trends which occur from present day sea-level to c. +43.0 m O.D. and are overlain by terrestrial silts and cold climate periglacial sediments. At the present day coastline, channel fill deposits occur below modern beach levels. New field observations, coupled with a re-investigation of old sites and literature, suggest that five discrete high stands of sea-level may be preserved in the area of the West Sussex Coastal Plain. Age estimates for these deposits suggest that they span large parts of the Middle and Upper Pleistocene (Oxygen Isotope Stages 13 to 5). Conformable relationships between many of the marine and terrestrial sediments suggest that the potential exists within the area to correlate the marine and terrestrial Quaternary stratigraphic records. In addition sediments associated with two of these high sea-level stands are associated with extensive buried landsurfaces covering large areas of the coastal plain. At some locations these intact landsurfaces are associated with evidence for human activity and represent stratigraphic and cultural resources of international importance.

Quaternary aminostratigraphy in Northwestern France

Abstract Amino acid epimerization of non-marine molluscs from selected sites in Northwest France and the Lower and Middle Seine Valley has permitted regional aminostratigraphies to be constructed and calibrated with radiometric dates. This has enabled inter-regional correlation and correlation with Oxygen Isotope Stratigraphy to be undertaken. The seven amino acid groups identified in Northwest France are evaluated against the conventional stratigraphic system for the region and appear to confirm the conventional terrace stratigraphy elucidated in the Somme Valley. The four amino acid groups identified in the Lower and Middle Seine Valley present problems when compared to the conventional loess stratigraphy. If correct, the aminostratigraphy suggests a re-evaluation of the loess based stratigraphy is required.

Late Middle Pleistocene deposits at Norton Farm on the West Sussex coastal plain, southern England

The coastal plain of West Sussex, southern England, is internationally important because of the sequence of discrete high-sea-level events preserved at Various elevations across it. New evidence is presented from a site at Norton Farm, near Chichester, on the Lower Coastal Plain, where Pleistocene marine sands, fining upwards into silts, occur between 5.3 m and 9.1 m OD. The sequence reflects a regressive tendency at the transition from an interglacial to a cold stage. The marine sands have yielded foraminifera, ostracods and molluscs that indicate a declining marine influence through the sequence, culminating in a tidal mudflat, strongly weathered in places. Cool-climate foraminifera (including Elphidium clavatum, Cassidulina reniformis and Elphidium albiumbilicatum) and ostracods have been recovered from the marine sands. Some species with an apparent preference for warmer water conditions, however, are also present. Freshwater taxa washed into the terminal marine sediments include some cold climate indicators, such as Pisidium stewarti and P. obtusale lapponicum. Additional evidence for cool climatic conditions during the deposition of the upper part of the marine sequence is provided by the lack of tree taxa in the pollen record and by features of the micromorphology. The marine sediments probably began accumulating during OIS 7, a conclusion based on their elevation, on amino acid ratios from shells, but especially on vertebrate evidence, particularly the presence of a small form of horse, together with a large, distinctive, form of northern vole (Microtus oeconomus). The occurrence of cool climate indicators in these marine sediments may demonstrate a lag between the climatic deterioration and the expected glacio-eustatic fall in relative sea-level. This evidence appears to support the conclusions drawn from the study of coral terraces in Barbados. Such a scenario would provide the conditions necessary for the emplacement of the large erratic boulders reported from the Lower Coastal Plain of West Sussex. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A new view from La Cotte de St Brelade, Jersey

Did Neanderthal hunters drive mammoth herds over cliffs in mass kills? Excavations at La Cotte de St Brelade in the 1960s and 1970s uncovered heaps of mammoth bones, interpreted as evidence of intentional hunting drives. New study of this Middle Palaeolithic coastal site, however, indicates a very different landscape to the featureless coastal plain that was previously envisaged. Reconsideration of the bone heaps themselves further undermines the ‘mass kill’ hypothesis, suggesting that these were simply the final accumulations of bone at the site, undisturbed and preserved in situ when the return to a cold climate blanketed them in wind-blown loess.

Middle Pleistocene molluscan and ostracod faunas from Allhallows, Kent, UK

Although known from the nineteenth century, the terraces of the Medway have been far less frequently described in the literature than those of the Thames. In particular, the well known fossiliferous occurrences of such sites as Swanscombe, Purfleet and Aveley have no counterpart in the Medway, despite the two rivers forming part of the same basin. Here we describe molluscan and ostracod faunas of Middle Pleistocene age from Allhallows, Kent close to the modern confluence of the two rivers, which begin to allow correlation of the Medway terraces with the better known Thames succession.

Holocene sequences and archaeology from the Crabble Paper Mill site, Dover, UK and their regional significance

The results of multidisciplinary investigations of the Quaternary sediments of the Dour valley, extending inland from Dover, Kent, are reported. The oldest sediments are unfossiliferous coarse gravels and silts of probable Late Devensian age. These are overlain by a complex series of peats and tufaceous sediments of early to mid-Holocene age. Pollen, mollusc, ostracod and vertebrate fossils (including the earliest British Holocene record of hazel dormouse) enable detailed reconstructions of the local environments and the vegetational and faunal history. A chronology is provided by a number of radiocarbon dates. The sequence is mantled by colluvial hillwash. The younger sediments have produced evidence for the presence of early humans (marine shells and flint artefacts) during the Bronze Age.

Problems, potential and partial solutions: An archaeological study of the tidal Thames, England

Abstract This paper considers some of the circumstances associated with the archaeological study of the Thames river system in south‐east England. It focuses on work related to the 95km reach of the river below Teddington, examining Holocene archaeological issues in the floodplain, on the urban waterfront and on the foreshore. Plotting the complex development dynamics of the river system itself, over a 10,000‐year period, and the correlation of that information with an understanding of the changes in the patterns of settlement, encroachment and exploitation calls for an integrated multi‐agency, multidisciplinary approach if further progress is to be made.

The archaeology of persistent places: The Palaeolithic case of la Cotte de St Brelade, Jersey

Abstract Excavations at the Middle Pleistocene site of La Cotte de St Brelade, on the island of Jersey in the English Channel, have revealed a long sequence of occupation. The continued use of the site by Neanderthals throughout an extended period of changing climate and environment reveals how, despite changes in the types of behaviour recorded at the site, La Cotte emerged as a persistent place in the memory and landscape of its early hominin inhabitants. The sites status as a persistent place for these people suggests a level of social and cognitive development permitting reference to and knowledge of places distant in time and space as long ago as at least MIS 7.