London Before London: Reconstructing a Palaeolithic Landscape

Aims and Objectives

Central London and its suburbs have produced a spectacular diversity of Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age) remains, in association with some of the most important palaeoenvironmental information in western Europe for the Pleistocene period (last 2 million years, the 'Ice Age'). The project therefore seeks not only to document the physical remains of Palaeolithic peoples and to reconstruct the dynamic earliest landscapes of London but also to explore the history of the collections in the context of 19 th and early 20 th century discoveries and knowledge.

For more details please go to the project summary document

 

Progress and Highlights

Year 1

• The focus was on the Palaeolithic archaeological collections of central London and the boroughs held by the collaborative partner.

• Over 1500 artefacts were described and measured from central London and the boroughs.

• Visits were also made to smaller local collections.

• The work was carried out predominantly in the Department of Palaeontology at the Natural History Museum and the student described over 1100 fossils from the key late Middle Pleistocene site of Ilford, as well as making substantial inroads into cataloguing the Late Pleistocene central London assemblages.

• Archival material (correspondence, obituaries) relating to significant amateur collectors (chiefly 19th Century), such as George Worthington Smith, John Allen Brown and Richard Payne Cotton, was gathered from the Society of Antiquaries, the Bedfordshire Historical Record Society, the Ealing Local History Centre and other sources.

Year 2

• This year's work has continued to focus on data collection: 2103 fossils have been seen and recorded together with nearly 7500 artefacts. (This is estimated to comprise some 70% of the known collections relevant to the study area.)

• Visits have been made to the British Geological Survey (BGS) at Keyworth, Nottingham, to record their Ilford holdings, as well as to various museum collections including Luton, Redbridge, Dartford , Wandsworth and Bromley.

• The student has published the following article: Juby, C. (2008), London Before London: Piecing together London 's Palaeolithic Past, London Archaeologist , 11 (12) (Spring 2008), 311-314 , also chapters have been drafted on the geological background of the Thames and London , and on the Ilford material.