Beedings, West Sussex: Early Upper Palaeolithic site

English Heritage summaries. 2007/2008

EH Project Number:	5362MAIN
Funded Unit:	University College London

Beedings, situated near Pulborough in West Sussex, is recognised as a nationally important Early Upper Palaeolithic site. It produced an extensive assemblage of flint work, including Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic artefacts, which were collected during the construction of a large country house during the early 20th century. Importantly the assemblage, studied and reported on in detail by Roget Jacobi (Jacobi 1986, 2007), contained elements of a distinctive leaf-point assemblage characteristic of the Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician industry dated to around 38-40 Kyrs and known from only a small number of sites across northern Europe.  This period sits at a key watershed in the evolutionary history of northern Europe.  The tools could equally be the signature of pioneer populations of modern humans or the traces of the last Neanderthal hunting groups to occupy this region.

 Of the original 2300-strong assemblage from Beedings only 200 survive in museum collections. Of the context or original arrangement of the finds, little is known except that they were recovered from a fissure exposed during the construction of the monumental house ‘Beedings Castle’. The hill also produced evidence for prehistoric cremations and evidence relating to high-status late Iron Age activity during the 1st century AD. However, research excavation under the direction of the Boxgrove Project and Caroline Wells recently established both the presence of further fissures on the hill and associated Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic archaeology, some of which has been shown to be in-situ.

 In 2006 it was established that a threat to these nationally important stone artefact scatters and later archaeology had emerged in the form of ploughing, vinyard planting and landscaping scheduled for early 2008.  The Beedings Survey has therefore been conceived to meet this threat directly and to assess the wider Heritage Management implications of fissure sites elsewhere in south east England.  The possibility exists that sites such as Beedings, along with related Pleistocene sites from Lower Greensand fissures at Ightham and Oldbury in Kent, are indicating the potential of a little considered archaeological resource.

The project will provide.

• A field walk and geological/geophysical survey of the threatened area.
• Detailed environmental sampling of fissure sediment sequences.
• Test pit sample excavations of  identified artefact concentrations.
• An assessment of wider potential in fissure contexts in south east England.
• Outreach with both professional, amateur and curatorial bodies at a local and national level.

Jacobi, R.M. 1986. The contents of Dr. Harleys show case. In S.N. Collcutt (ed.), The Palaeolithic of Britain and its Nearest Neighbours: recent trends. University of Sheffield, Department of Archaeology and Prehistory, 62-68

R. Jacobi. 2007. A Collection of Early Upper Palaeolithic Artefacts from Beedings, near Pulborough, West Sussex. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 73

This page was published on 04/04/2008