Medway Valley Palaeolithic Project

English Heritage ALSF summaries. 2006/2007

EH Project Number:	3836ANL
Funded Unit:	Southampton University

SUMMARY

At its heart the Medway Valley Palaeolithic Project (MVPP) is about aiding the curatorial community in managing the Lower/Middle Palaeolithic resource contained in the aggregate extraction landscape. The project is implemented in the Medway region, but many of its methods and outcomes are directly transferable to the wider aggregate resource. Within the context of this broad goal, the project includes:

● Development of a Medway region Palaeolithic Research Framework, incorporating (a) an integrated chronological and stratigraphic framework for sand/gravel aggregate deposits, (b) a regional framework of cultural change/patterning and hominid settlement history and (c) regional research priorities

● Characterisation and predictive modeling of the Palaeolithic resource in the Medway region with identification of zones of significance and research priorities

● Specification of appropriate methods for evaluation/excavation of Palaeolithic remains within different zones of the Medway Palaeolithic resource

● Enhancement of Palaeolithic SMR datasets in the Medway region

The MVPP builds on previous work, in particular the Southern Rivers Palaeolithic Project (SRPP) and The English Rivers Palaeolithic Survey (TERPS) in the 1990s, and on work carried out since 2000 under phase 1 of ALSF by the Shotton Project, the Thames Estuary Survey of Mineral Extraction Sites (TESMES). These projects have essentially been about collating known information on Palaeolithic find-spots, and relating them to existing British Geological Survey (BGS) mapping.

The MVPP builds on this work in three main directions. Firstly, fieldwork was carried out to validate and develop the essential chrono-stratigraphic framework. Current geological attribution of most Pleistocene aggregate deposits is highly suspect, with inconsistencies between adjacent map-sheets and major problems of correlation between more widely separated groups of deposits. The fieldwork focused on dating, environmental sampling and artefact recovery.

Secondly, the MVPP has involved a more detailed analysis of previous Palaeolithic finds from aggregate deposits in the study region, including recording of typology and condition and reviewing provenance information. These data can contribute to assessing the significance of surviving aggregate bodies, as well as in constructing a regional framework of Palaeolithic occupation and cultural change.

Thirdly, while previous projects have generally produced relevant information from which to develop a predictive model, this step has not yet been taken. The MVPP will combine collation and analysis of findspot information with better understanding of the Pleistocene framework, achieved through a combination of improved lithostratigraphic synthesis and OSL dating, to, for the first time, generate a GIS Palaeolithic Resource Predictive Model that both characterises the Palaeolithic resource and predicts zones of interest and significance.

In course of addressing these core curatorial objectives, MVPP has also contributed to a number of national and regional Palaeolithic research priorities. These primarily concern developing the framework of cultural change and settlement history in the Medway region, and comparing/contrasting this with that of other parts of southeast England. In addition, work has been carried out that will enhance understanding of a number of key sites; in particular, Cuxton in Kent, where we have done new dating analyses, and recovered important new finds. Preliminary reports on the Cuxton work have already now been published (Wenban-Smith 2004 & 2006) and a public lecture on the work was well-attended at the Maidstone Museum & Bentlif Art Gallery in March 2006.

PROJECT OUTPUTS

There are three main audiences that have an interest/stake in the results of MVPP: the curatorial community; the wider public; and the academic community. In addition to outputs tailored to each of these diverse audiences, an overall archive report will be produced and lodged with the Archaeology Data Service.

Curatorial resources

The curatorial community is intended to be the main beneficiary of MVPP, and the project has been developed in collaboration with KCC and ECC heritage conservation teams. Three main outputs will be produced:

● Updated field event and lithic find-spot records for incorporation in existing SMRs

● A Palaeolithic Resource Predictive Model GIS project that delimits, characterises and prioritises the Palaeolithic resource in the study region, identifying areas of known importance as well as areas of uncertainty, and identifying research priorities for different zones

● An accompanying manual Palaeolithic Archaeology and Development Control outlining a revised research framework for the region and reviewing the significance and potential of different types of Palaeolithic evidence and appropriate methods of intervention. Apart for the regionally specific research framework, much of this manual would have wider national relevance in setting out goals, priorities and methods of Palaeolithic archaeology, particularly within the context of development control

Community dissemination

This area of dissemination has been given high priority in the course of the project to date. The following outputs will be produced, intended to disseminate key results of the project as broadly as possible to as wide a community as possible:

● Enhancement of the existing MVPP web site to include more results of the project

● Enhancement of information on the Palaeolithic and on key sites investigated during MVPPP on the KCC "Here's History" and ECC "Unlocking Essex's Past" web-sites

● Production of a poster and updated leaflet that provide results of the project, and give links to the web resources being developed (MVPP site, KCC "Here's History" and ECC "Unlocking Essex's Past") as well as to related sites such as the National Ice Age Network.

Academic publication

Academic publication will also be an element of dissemination. Some of the site-specific results, such as the investigations at Cuxton are clearly of national importance. Furthermore the development of an overall regional chronostratigraphic framework and the accompanying history of Palaeolithic settlement and cultural change will be of interest to the national academic community, as well as to the regional curatorial staff. However, the potential for academic publication is restricted due to the limited resources for environmental analysis and academic report preparation.

It is, however, intended to produce two small, site-specific papers for the two key sites Cuxton (Kent) and Cudmore Grove (Essex). Suitable journals for these would be, respectively, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society and the Quaternary Newsletter.

In addition to these papers, stand-alone specialist reports will be produced on, respectively, the OSL and amino acid dating programmes.

Archive report

In addition to the above reporting outputs, a summary report on the project will be prepared and lodged with the Archaeology Data Service. This report will recap the sites and material studied in course of the project, list the main analytical and dating results, list the extent of the project archive and identify the locations where the original archival material is lodged, so that interested parties can consult it. The SMR output of the project is in any case a public resource, administered by the respective county council heritage conservation teams for which it has been developed, so will already be publicly accessible through these authorities.

The archive report will then form the basis of a subsequent ADS-initiated proposal to deliver more fully the outputs of the MVPP as a web-resource hosted by the ADS.

References

Wenban-Smith, F.F. 2004. Handaxe typology and Lower Palaeolithic cultural development: ficrons, cleavers and two giant handaxes from Cuxton. In (M. Pope and K. Cramp, eds) Lithics 25 (Papers in Honour of R.J. MacRae): 11–21.

Wenban-Smith, F.F. 2006. Giant handaxes from Cuxton. Kent Archaeological Society Newsletter 68 (Spring 2006): 2–3.

This page was published on 25/09/2006

Final summary Medway Palaeolithic Summary