Studies in the Upper Palaeolithic of Britain and Northwest Europe 9780860543800, 9781407345635

Table of contents :
Blank Page
Front Cover
Copyright
Table of Contents
List of Plates
List of Figures
List of Tables
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
THE BRITISH UPPER PALAEOLITHIC: PROBLEMS AND PROGRESS
HIATUS AND CONTINUITY IN THE BRITISH UPPER PALAEOLITHIC: A VIEW FROM THE ANTIPODES
WHY NOT AN IRISH UPPER PALAEOLITHIC?
A FLINT ARTEFACT FROM THE NORTHERN NORTH SEA
MAN IN BRITAIN IN THE LATE DEVENSIAN: EVIDENCE FROM OSSOM'S CAVE
NEW UPPER PALAEOLITHIC HUMAN REMAINS FROM ROBIN HOOD'S CAVE, CRESWELL CRAGS SSSI, UK
EXCAVATIONS AT LITTLE HOYLE (LONGBURY BANK), WALES, IN 1984
ACCELERATOR MASS SPECTROMETRY DATING OF UPPER PALAEOLITHIC FINDS, WITH THE POULTON ELK AS AN EXAMPLE
EXPERIMENTS WITH LONG BLADES FROM SPROUGHTON, NEAR ISPWICH, SUFFOLK
THE APPLICATION OF SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY TO TAPHONOMIC AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROBLEMS
BREAKAGE PATTERNS ON PREHISTORIC BONE POINTS: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY
FURTHER WORK ON THE FUNCTIONS OF FLINT TOOLS AT PINCEVENT (SEINE-ET-MARNE), FRANCE: SECTIONS 36 AND 27
OLDEHOLTWOLDE, A LATE HAMBURGIAN SITE IN THE NETHERLANDS
RESEARCH AND REFLECTIONS ON THE HUMAN OCCUPATION OF WALLONIA (BELGIUM) DURING THE LATE LAST GLACIAL
INDEX

Citation preview

Studies in the Upper Palaeolithic of Britain and Northwest Europe

edited by Derek A. Roe

BAR International Series 296 1986

B.A.R.

5, Centremead, Osney Mead, Oxford OX2 ODQ, England.

GENERAL EDITORS A.R. Hands, B.Sc., M.A., D.Phil. D.R. Walker, M.A.

FLA.R. -S296, 1986: 'Studies in the Upper Palaeolithic of Britai.n and Northwest Europe'

©

The

Tndividual Authors,

1986

The authors’ moral rights under the 1988 UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act are hereby expressly asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be copied, reproduced, stored, sold, distributed, scanned, saved in any form of digital format or transmitted in any form digitally, without the written permission of the Publisher. ISBN 9780860543800 paperback ISBN 9781407345635 e-book DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9780860543800 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library This book is available at www.barpublishing.com

CO N T E N T S P age L ist o f P lates

i i

L ist o f F igures

i v

L ist o f T ables

v iii

A lphabetical l ist o f C ontributors D erek R oe p rogress.

i x

T he B ritish U pper P alaeolithic :

p roblems a nd 1

J ohn B . C ampbell H iatus a nd c ontinuity i n t he B ritish U pper P alaeolithic : av iew f rom t he A ntipodes . P eter C . W oodman D . L ong,

W hy n ot a n I rish U pper P alaeolithic?

C .R. W ickham-Jones a nd N .A . R uckley

7 4 3

A f lint

a rtefact f rom t he n orthern N orth S ea .

5 5

K atharine S cott M an i n B ritain i n t he L ate D evensian : e vidence f rom O ssom 's C ave.

6 3

R .D.S. J enkinson , D .D. G ilbertson , C .M . G riffin , C .O. H unt, P .J . R owe a nd G .M .Coles N ew U pper P alaeolithic h uman r emains f rom R obin H ood 's C ave, C resswell C rags S SSI , U K .

8 9

S tephen G reen ,

w ith

s pecialist r eports b y P eter B ull , E wan

C ampbell, G eraint C oles a nd A ndrew C urrant E xcavations a t L ittle H oyle ( Dangbury B ank ) , W ales , i n 1 984 .

9 9

R .M . J acobi, J .A .J. G owlett, R .E.M . H edges a nd R . G illespie A ccelerator m ass s pectrometry d ating o f U pper P alaeolithic f inds, w ith t he P oulton e lk a s a n e xample.

1 21

.R .N .E . B arton E xperiments w ith l ong b lades f rom S proughton , n ear I pswich , S uffolk .

1 29

J ill b ook

T he a pplication o f

s canning e lectron m icroscopy 1 43

t o t aphonom # a nd a rchaeological p roblems. S andra A rndt a nd Mark N ewcomer B reakage p atterns p rehistoric b one p oints : a n e xperimental s tudy.

o n

E mily H . M oss F urther w ork o n t he f unction o f f lint t ools a t P incevent ( Seine-et-Marne), F rance : S ections 3 6 a nd 2 7. D ick

S tapert,

J an S . K rist

a nd

1 65

1 75

A rnold L . Z andbergen

O ldeholtwolde , aL ate H amburgian s ite i n t he N etherlands.

1 87

M . D ewez R esearch a nd r eflections o n t he h uman o ccupation o f W allonia ( Belgium) d uring t he l ate L ast G lacial.

2 27

I ndex

2 35

L IST O F P LATES

( Note : t he P late t itles a re a bbreviated i n t his l ist : w ith t he p lates t hemselves)

f ull c aptions a ppear P age

K . S cott P late 1

V iew o f O ssom 's C ave.

6 8

P late 2 R eindeer t ibia a nd h umerus f rom O ssom 's w ith d amage p erhaps c aused i n t he b utchery p rocess . P late 3

C ave , 7 8

B one s plinters f rom L ayer C , O ssom 's C ave.

7 8

P late 4 Two r eindeer m andibles a nd a ' ist y ear s pike ' f rom O ssom 's C ave .

8 0

R .D.S. J enkinson P late 5 T he R obin H ood 's l ateral v iew . P late 6

C ave

h uman

m andible ,

o blique 9 6

T he R obin H ood 's C ave h uman m andible ,

f ront v iew .

9 6

S . G reen P late 7 L ittle H oyle C ave, 1 984: N orth V alley .

v iew f rom f loor o f

P late 8 L ittle H oyle C ave, 1 984: t renches N P1 a nd N P2 .

e ntrances 1 -III a nd

1 05

1 05

J . C ook P late 9 P uncture p roduced b y ab ear c anine t ooth o n a b one f rom W estbury-sub-Mendip , S omerset . P late 1 0

R odent g naw m arks i ndicating p re-burial e xposure 1 48

o f ab one f rom a N eolithic s ite o n W estray . P late

1 1

1 48

M arks p roduced b y a s tone a rtefact o n a m odern

s heep h umerus d uring b utchering .

1 50

P late 1 2

1 52

U naltered r odent t eeth f rom b arn o wl p ellets.

P late 1 3

C orroded r odent t eeth f rom k estrel p ellets.

P late 1 4

M arks p roduced o n m odern c ow b ones b y t rampling

a nd

g ravitational

m ovement

o n

a s lope

s ubangular l imestone c lasts a t D raycott ,

i i

c overed

S omerset .

1 54

w ith 1 56-7

P late 1 5 E tched i nternal s urface o f a r ootmark o n a b one f rom W estray .

1 58

P late 1 6 M arks p roduced b y a m odern t ool u sed t o e ngrave r eindeer a ntler .

1 58

P late 1 7 M arked b ovid m etacarpal , a nd b one f ragments f rom c arnivore s cats , B acon H ole , G ower .

1 60

P late 1 8 B one f ragment f rom O ssom 's C ave, worked t o a p oint b y u se o f a s tone a rtefact .

1 61

S . A rndt a nd M .H. N ewcomer P late

1 9

E xperimental

p oints ,

s howing b reakage p atterns

a fter s hooting i nto m eat a nd b one . P late 2 0

1 68

E xperimental a ntler p oint , d amaged a fter s triking

b one.

1 69

P late 2 1 E xperimental a nd U pper P alaeolithic a ntler p oints w ith b evelled b reaks a t t he t ip a fter s triking b one .

1 69

P late 2 2 C lose u p o f t he b roken t ip o f p oint s hown i n P late 2 1 .

1 70

P late 2 3 s triking

t he e xperimental

E xperimental a ntler p oint w ith t ip r ounded a fter 1 70

b one .

P late 2 4 D amaged t ip o f e xperimental c ompressed a gainst b one i n a v ice . P late 2 5

a ntler

p oint 1 71

E xperimental a nd U pper P alaeolithic a ntler p oints 1 71

w ith b evelled b reaks t hrough t he m iddle . E .H. M oss P late 2 6

P incevent :

f lint s urfaces b efore a nd a fter l atex .

1 83

D . S tapert e t a l P late ' 2 7

O ldeholtwolde :

n orth

q uadrant

o f

t he

h earth ,

s howing c entral p it w ith f lat s tones . P late 2 8 b elow t he

O ldeholtwolde : b ranch-like c harcoal s treaks s tones o n t he b ottom o f t he c entral p it i n t he 1 96

h earth . P late 2 9 D ala

• Plate 3 1 n o .

O ldeholtwolde :

O ne o f t he r econstructed s labs o f 2 03

s andstone .

P late 3 0

1 94

O ldeholtwolde : O ldeholtwolde :

t he s tone w ith a r ubbed s urface .

2 06

c onjoined a rtefacts a round c ore 2 17

3 808 .

i ii

L IST O F F IGURES ( Note : t he F igure t itles a re a bbreviated i n t his l ist: a ppear w ith t he f igures t hemselves)

f ull c aptions P age

J .B. C ampbell F ig . 1 P ossible d istribution o f t he L incombian t radition a nd i ts c ontemporaries , c . 3 8 ,000-32 ,000 y ears a go .

1 2

F ig. 2

1 3

L incombian l eaf-points.

F ig . 3 P ossible d istribution o f t he A urignacian t radition a nd i ts c ontemporaries , c . 3 2 ,000-27 ,000 y ears a go .

1 6

F ig . 4 c arinated

1 7

A urignacian s crapers .

b urins b usqugs

a nd n osed

a nd/or

F ig . 5 P ossible d istribution o f t he M aisierian t radition a nd i ts c ontemporaries , c . 2 8 ,000-22 ,000 y ears a go . F ig . 6

M aisierian t anged t ools ,

1 8

s houldered p oints a nd l eaf-

p oints.

1 9

F ig . 7 P ossible d istribution o f t he L ower C reswellian a nd i ts c ontemporaries , c . 2 2 ,000-15 ,000 y ears a go .

2 5

F ig .

8

C reswellian s tyle b acked

t ools

f rom

s elected

C ontinental E uropean s ites .

2 6

F ig . 9 P ossible d istribution o f t he M iddle C reswellian a nd i ts c ontemporaries , c . 1 5 ,000-12 ,000 y ears a go .

2 8

F ig . 1 0

2 9

C reswellian b acked t ools f rom B ritain .

F ig . 1 P ossible d istribution o f t he U pper C reswellian a nd i ts c ontemporaries , c . 1 2 ,000-11,000 y ears a go .

3 1

P .C. W oodman F ig . 1 2

I reland :

z ones o f g lacio-isostatic u plift a nd

M idlandian s tage i ce-limits .

4 4

D . L ong e t a l F ig. 1 3

B athymetric m ap o f t he N orthern N orth S ea.

5 6

F ig. 1 4

T he f lint a rtefact.

5 6

F ig. 1 5

L ithological l og o f v ibrocore 6 0 + 0 1/46.

5 8

i v

F ig. 1 6

G eological m ap o f t he s ite v icinity.

5 8

F ig . 1 7 M ap : p robable g lacier i ce l imits a nd s ea l evel a t t he W eichselian g lacial m aximum .

6 0

K . S cott F ig.

1 8

Map:

B ritish

f ind-spots

o f

Late

U pper

P alaeolithic a rtefacts . F ig .

1 9

M aps :

6 5

L ocation o f O ssom 's C ave a nd t opography o f

t he a rea a round t he s ite . F ig .

2 0

6 7

P lan o f O ssom 's

C ave ,

s howing e xcavated

s ectors

a nd t ransverse s ections t hrough t he d eposits . F ig . 2 1

7 0

L ongitudinal s ection t hrough t he O ssom 's C ave

d eposits.

7 1

F ig . 2 2

T he L ate D evensian :

a rchaeological s ites , F ig . 2 3

O ssom 's C ave :

e xcavated F ig . 2 4

s ubdivisions, c hronology , 7 3

t emperature e stimates . r epresentation o f r eindeer b ones i n

7 7

s ectors .

M ap :

g laciation ;

B ritain a nd N orthwest E urope d uring t he l ast s eason o f o ccupation o f l ate g lacial s ites

( based o n a nalysis m igration r outes .

o f

r eindeer

r emains)

a nd s uggested 8 2

R .D.S. J enkinson e t a l F ig . 2 5 C ross s ection a t R obin H ood 's C ave, s ite R HA , s howing s tratigraphic r elationships o f t he h uman m andible .

9 0

F ig . 2 6

9 3

P ollen d iagram ,

R obin H ood 's C ave s ite R HA .

S . G reen F ig . 2 7

L ittle H oyle :

F ig . 2 8

L ittle H oyle :

l ocation a nd s ketch p lan . b one b odkin a nd a dinole s craper

e xcavated b y L aws . F ig .

2 9

L ittle H oyle :

1 02 i nterpretation o f

s ection d rawing

o f t he 1 877-8 e xcavation b y R olleston a nd L aws . F ig . 3 0

L ittle H oyle :

1 02

p lan s howing t he 1 984 e xcavation 1 04

t renches. • Fig . 3 1

1 00

L ittle H oyle :

s ection o f T rench N P 2 ( west f ace) .

1 07

R .M . J acobi e t a l F ig . 3 2 A ccelerator d ates f rom P oulton a nd o ther s ites i n r elation t o d ates f or L ate G lacial p hases i n t he U sselo s equence.

1 26

R .N.E. B arton F ig. 3 3

E clat m achurg f rom S proughton.

F ig . 3 4

E xperimental h ammerstone w ith a ccidental f lake

1 31

r emoval a nd t wo h ammerstones f rom S proughton .

1 33

F ig . 3 5 f lake.

E xperimental c hopping o f a ntler , u sing a l arge 1 34

F ig .

E xperimental

3 6

f lake u sed

t o

c hop

s oftened

a ntler ,

a nd d amage f lakes .

1 35

F ig . 3 7

E xperimental f lake u sed t o c hop s easoned b irchwood .

1 37

F ig . 3 8 S proughton : t hree e ndscrapers w ith s calar d amage a nd a p lunging b lade f ragment w ith v entral d amage .

1 39

J . C ook F ig . 3 9 S tages a ssemblages .

i n t he f ormation a nd m odification o f b one 1 44

E .H. M oss F ig .

4 0

P incevent :

S ection

3 6

I V

3 0 ,

H /I

1 13/114 .

D istribution o f e xamined f lints .

1 78

F ig . 4 1 P incevent : s ome u nused f lints f rom S ection 3 6 I V 3 0 w hich h ave u sable e dges o r p oints .

1 79

F ig . 4 2 P incevent : f lints ( four u sed a nd f our u nused) f rom S ection 3 6 I V 3 0 a nd S ection 2 7 I V 2 1.3

1 81

D . S tapert e t a l F ig . 4 3 F ig .

4 4

1 88

L ocation o f t he s ite a t O ldeholtwolde . S and-depth

map

o f

t he

r egion

a round

t he 1 88

O ldeholtwolde s ite . F ig . 4 5

O ldeholtwolde :

f rost f issure e ast o f t he s ite, 1 90

w ithin t he s tress c hannel . F ig . 4 6

S chematic o verall p rofile o f t he O ldeholtwolde s ite 1 92

a nd i ts s urroundings .

v i

F ig . 4 7 O ldeholtwolde : p lan o f t he h earth s ituated i n t he m iddle o f t he f inal c oncentration .

1 93

F ig . 4 8 h earth .

1 96

F ig .

4 9

O ldeholtwolde :

s chematic c ross-section t hrough t he

O ldeholtwolde :

e xcavated a rea ,

o verall

g round-plan

o f

t he

s howing a ll s tones l arger t han 2 c m .

1 99

F ig . 5 0 P roportions o f d ifferent r ock t ypes a mongst t he s tones l arger t han 2 .5 cm e xcavated i n s itu a t O ldeholtwolde. F ig .

5 1

O ldeholtwolde :

m aximum

l engths

o f

2 01

r econstructed

s tone s labs a nd o f a ll s tones e xcavated i n s itu .

2 01

F ig 5 2 O ldeholtwolde : i n P late 2 9 .

2 02

t he r econstructed s tone s lab s hown

F ig . 5 3 O ldeholtwolde : d istribution o f e lements o f r econstructed s tone s lab s hown i n P late 2 9 a nd F ig . 5 2 .

t he 2 04

F ig . 5 4 O ldeholtwolde : d istribution o f a ll f lint c hips a t t he s ite , s howing s everal c oncentrations a round t he h earth .

2 08

F ig. 5 5 A s election O ldeholtwolde.

2 10

F ig . 5 6

o f

p rojectile

p oints

f rom

F requency d iagram f or d istances b etween c onjoining

b roken f lint a rtefacts a t O ldeholtwolde . F ig . 5 7

O ldeholtwolde :

2 13

p ercentages p er t ype c lass o f

t ools c onjoinable w ith o ther a rtefacts .

2 13

F ig . 5 8 O ldeholtwolde : s patial d istribution o f e lements i n t he r efitted g roup a round c ore 3 808 ( illustrated i n P late 2 19

3 1). F ig . 5 9

O ldeholtwolde :

t he s mall r ectangle

l ocations o f f lint a rtefacts w ithin

s hown i n F ig . 5 8 . 2 20

M . D ewez F ig . 6 0

B acked p ieces f rom C haleux ( Magdalenian ) . .

2 29

F ig . 6 1

B acked p ieces f rom P resle ( Creswello-Tjongerian ) .

2 31

F ig . 6 2

B acked p ieces f rom R emouchamps ( Ahrenslurgia r) .

2 32

v ii

L IST O F T ABLES P age K . S cott T able 1 C aves i n B ritain w ith a rtefacts o f L ate U pper P alaeolithic t ype .

6 4

T able 2 L arge m ammal s keletal e lements f rom O ssom 's C ave , L ayer C .

7 5

R .D.S. J enkinson T able 3 P ollen f rom t he R angifer t arandus a ntler f ragment a ssociated w ith t he h uman m andible f rom R obin H ood 's C ave , s ite R HA . T able 4 C ave ,

U ranium s eries a nalytical d ata

9 2

f rom R obin H ood 's

S ite R HA .

9 4

S . G reen T able 5 L ittle H oyle : r esults f rom t he e xcavations o f N orth P latform d eposits i n 1 984 a nd 1 958-9 . T able

6

L ittle H oyle :

r esults

f rom

1 984

e xcavations

1 08

o f 10

N orth C ave d eposits .

D . S tapert e t a l T able 7

O ldeholtwolde :

p airs o f b roken p ieces f itting

t ogether. T able . 8

2 12 O ldeholtwolde :

f requencies

o f

t ools

b efore

a nd

a fter r efitting b roken p ieces, a nd p ercentages o f t ools c onjoinable w ith o ther a rtefacts . T able 9

O ldeholtwolde :

a round c ore n o .

2 15

c omposition o f t he r efitted g roup

3 808 .

2 18

v iii

A LPHABETICAL L IST O F C ONTRIBUTORS

S . A rndt ( S. O lsen). R .N .E . B arton . U niversity. P .A . B ull.

I nstitute o f A rchaeology , L ondon U niversity .

D onald B aden-Powell Q uaternary R esearch C entre , O xford

S chool o f G eography , O xford U niversity.

E .Campbell.

D epartment o f A rchaeology , U niversity C ollege , C ardiff.

J .B . C ampbell . D epartment Q ueensland , A ustralia.

o f B ehavioural S ciences ,

J ames C ook U niversity ,

G .M . C oles.

D epartment o f P rehistory a nd A rchaeology , S heffield U niversity.

G .M . C ook .

D onald

B aden-Powell

Q uaternary

R esearch

C entre ,

O xford

U niversity. A .P . C urrant.

D epartment

o f

P alaeontology ,

B ritish

Museum

( Natural

H istory), L ondon . M . D ewez.

I nstitut

s upgrieur

d 'archeologie

e t

d 'histoire

d e

rart,

U niversit6 C atholique d e L ouvain , B elgium . D .D . G ilbertson .

D epartment

o f P rehistory a nd A rchaeology ,

S heffield

U niversity . R . G illespie .

R esearch L aboratory f or A rchaeology a nd

t he H istory o f A rt ,

O xford U niversity. J .A .J . Gowlett .

R esearch L aboratory f or A rchaeology a nd t he H istory o f A rt ,

O xford U niversity . H .S . G reen .

D epartment o f A rchaeology a nd N umismatics ,

N ational M useum o f

W ales, C ardiff. C .M . G riffin .

D epartment

o f

P rehistory

a nd

A rchaeology ,

S heffield

U niversity. R .E .M . H edges .

R esearch L aboratory f or A rchaeology a nd t he H istory o f A rt ,

O xford U niversity. C .O. H unt.

C reswell C rags V isitor C entre, W elbeck, N otts.

R .M. J acobi .

D epartment o f C lassics a nd A rchaeology , L onsdale C ollege ,

L ancaster U niversity. R .D.S. J enkinson . J .S. K rist . G roningen ,

C reswell C rags V isitor C entre, W elbeck , N otts.

B iologisch-Archaeologisch N etherlands .

i x

I nstituut ,

R ijksuniversiteit

D . L ong .

B ritish

G eological

S urvey,

Marine

G eology

R esearch

G roup ,

E dinburgh. M .H. N ewcomer. D .A . R oe .

I nstitute o f A rchaeology, L ondon U niversity.

D onald

B aden-Powell

Q uaternary

S chool

o f E nvironmental S ciences ,

R esearch

C entre ,

O xford

U niversity. P .J. Rowe .

U niversity o f E ast A nglia ,

N orwich. R uckley .

B ritish G eological S urvey ,

M arine G eology R esearch G roup ,

E dinburgh. K . S cott.

D epartment o f A rchaeology, C ambridge U niversity.

D . S tapert.

B iologisch-Archaeologisch

I nstituut,

R ijksuniversiteit

G roningen , N etherlands. C .R . W ickham-Jones .

A rtifact R esearch U nit , N ational M useum o f A ntiquities ,

E dinburgh. P .C. W oodman. A .L . Z andbergen . G roningen ,

D epartment o f A rchaeology, U niversity C ollege , C ork, E ire. B iologisch-Archaeologisch I nstituut,

N etherlands .

R ijksuniversiteit

T HE B RITISH U PPER P ALAEOLITHIC:

P ROBLEMS A ND P ROGRESS

D erek R oe

T his v olume

c ame

i nto e xistence a s

o ne

r esult

o f

a s ymposium h eld o n 2 7

O ctober 1 984 a t t he D onald B aden-Powell Q uaternary R esearch C entre , O xford U niversity . T he s ymposium w as e ntitled ' Upper P alaeolithic A rchaeology i n B ritain a nd N orthern E urope ' . S ome o f t he p apers g iven o n t hat o ccasion a re p resented h ere , w hile s ome o f t he c ontributors t o t he s ymposium h ave c hosen d ifferent t opics s pecially f or t his p ublication . S ince t he C entre i tself i s s mall , t he m eeting w as n ecessarily l imited t o s ome t wo d ozen p eople . T he o pportunity h as t herefore b een t aken t o i nclude a f ew o ther a rticles , b y c olleagues w ho w ere u nable t o b e p resent . A s o rganiser o f t his m eeting a nd e ditor o f t he v olume , Ih ave g radually c ome t o r egard t he t wo a s s eparate p rojects , t hough c losely c onnected : i n o ther w ords , t his i s c ertainly n ot j ust t he r outine p ublication o f a s et o f p apers g iven a t a o ne-day d iscussion m eeting . R ather , i t i s a c ollection o f i nvited i ndividual c ontributions a ll r elevant t o a s ingle t heme , n amely r esearch c oncerning h uman g roups i n r elation t o t heir e nvironment i n t he n orth-west o f E urope d uring t he c losing s tages o f t he P leistocene a nd a t t he v ery o utset o f t he H olocene . F or p urposes o f s uch r esearch , i t i s o f t he g reatest i mportance t hat A rchaeology s hould o perate a s o ne d iscipline w ithin t he whole b ody o f Q uaternary S tudies , a nd I h ope t hat a ll t he p apers p resented h ere c an c learly b e s een t o h ave b een w ritten i n t hat s pirit . T he t itles o f t he a rticles m ay a ll c ount a s ' archaeological ' , b ut i n m ost c ases a w ide r ange o f Q uaternary R esearch t echniques i s d irectly i nvolved i n t he w ork d escribed . T he i dea o f h olding t he O xford m eeting a rose b ecause , 1 984 ,

i n t he a utumn o f

t he D onald B aden-Powell Q uaternary R esearch C entre h ad a t

t he

s ame

t ime t wo l ong-term v isitors w ho s hared a s trong a nd a ctive i nterest i n t he n orth-west E uropean U pper P alaeolithic : D r . J ohn B . C ampbell , f rom J ames C ook

U niversity

i n A ustralia

a nd D r .

J an B urdukiewicz

f rom

W roclaw

U niversity i n P oland . T he d ay was p lanned t o b e a m eeting o r r eunion b etween t hem a nd v arious B ritish c olleagues a nd s tudents i n t his f ield , a nd a n o pportunity f or e veryone t o h ear n ews a nd e xchange i deas i n n ot t oo f ormal a n a tmosphere . T he o utcome w as s uccessful e nough f or t hose p resent t o a gree u nanimously t hat a v olume s hould b e p repared a nd f or m any f irm p romises o f c ontributions t o b e u ttered . I h ave s pent a s ubstantial p art o f t he s ucceeding y ear g athering i n t he p romised a rticles a nd s haping t hem i nto t he f orm i n w hich t hey a re p resented h ere . O f t he t wo o verseas v isitors, J an B urdukiewicz was m aking a f irst e xtended s tudy v isit ( sponsored b y t he B ritish C ouncil) t o s ee B ritish U pper P alaeolithic s ites a nd m aterial , k nowing t hat m uch o f i t w ould p rove h ighly r elevant t o h is work i n P oland a nd E astern E urope . J ohn C ampbell , b y c ontrast , w as r eturning o n s abbatical l eave , a fter s everal y ears o n t he o pposite s ide o f t he w orld ,

t o ar esearch f ield i n w hich h e h ad b een d eeply

i nvolved a t a t ime w hen h e w as a ctually t he f irst d octoral r esearch s tudent t he e ditor o f t his v olume e ver s upervised . H e h ad p ublished a d efinitive a ccount o f t he B ritish U pper P alaeolithic i n 1 977 a nd , i n d oing s o , h ad p rovided m uch o f t he i mpetus f or t he v ery l arge a mount o f r esearch c arried

1

out by others since he left Britain. His work since then in both Australia and Belgium had caused his views of the British material to develop and alter, in ways which he himself explains in his article in this volume. The different reasons that had brought these t wo scholars to Oxford, together with the titles chosen by other contributors to this volume, and my own somewhat detached observations of Br"itish Upper Palaeolithic research over a number of years, together provide enough foundation for a brief introduction to the theme, already stated above, which holds this volume together . By comparison with much of Continental Europe, Britain is extremely poor in Upper Palaeolithic sites and those which exist are far from rich. The literature of· the British Upper Palaeolithic is almost as sparse, with Garrod (1926) and Campbell (1977) having provided the only two full-length accounts so far, written fifty years apart. With so many vastly superior sites to be studied on the European mainland, it might have been supposed that interest·in the British material would have flickered away to nothing, but in fact it has substantially increased and is continuing to grow. The .principal reason for the relative poverty of the British Upper Palaeolithic is the marginal geographical position of Britain itself, so far as the European source areas of settlement are concerned, and it is this very marginality that is now giving the British material its special interest. This is not just a matter of geographical remoteness, but also of the i climatic fluctuations witin the last glaciation, the Devensian in British ,: terminology, the more severe of which are likely to have rendered Britain i"uninhabitable or at least devoid of most of the resources that would make possible anything_more than fleeting visits. So: who came, and when, and where from, and why? Is there at least one major hiatus in the Upper Palaeolithic occupation of Britain, as the majority of recent writers have supposed, coinciding with the coldest part of the glaciation and perhaps lasting for a few ·millenia either side of twenty thousand years ago? Is it reasonable to summarise the British sequence as consisting of a brief 'E a r l i e r U p p er Pa laeolithic' p h a s e , a h i atus and a 'Later Upper Palaeolithic' beginning right at the end of the Pleistocene and ultimately losing itself in the ·earliest definable Mesolithic? Or is there in fact a pattern of small-scale occupation running with only minor discontinuities fr om about 40,000 years ago into the beginning of the Holocene? How different authors have addressed this question tells us some of the reasons 'why interest in the British Upper Palaeolithic has survived and grown. To Dorothy Garrod in the l 92O's, her predecessors and some of her successors, the problem would be essentially an archaeological one: find artefacts in the British caves and compare them to the contents of the French Upper Palaeolithic, and typology and technology will tell you whether the· Aurignacian, Gravettian, Solutrian and Magdalenian peoples came here. To a present day researcher, the same question must involve a full-scale Quaternary enquiry, with the artefacts likely to play a relatively minor role. l

...;. ,.,-

In what we might call the post-Garrod period, it has become increasingly ·clear that one· should not look to the 'classic' Upper Palaeolithic area of southern and southwestern France as a main source for the British material. The late Charles McBurney, himself a pupil and disciple of Dorothy Garrod, had much to do with turning attention eastward rather than southward, to northern France, Belgium, Holland and the countries of the North European plain at least as far as Poland (see for example McBurney 1965: 24-34). A great expansion of knowledge and discovery has taken place there over the past twenty years, and the role of 2

the 'British peninsula' now makes much better sense as a result. The title of this volume and the articles in it that relate to Continental Europe reflect this situation. It is also pleasing to be able to include here the brief report by Long, Wickham-Jones and Ruckley on the recovery of a worked flint from the northern North Sea bed. I have often thought that it would­ clearly make excellent archaeological sense to drain the North Sea to enable a detailed exploration of its sea bed to be made: I suppose this idea would have to be sold on the basis of making economic and political sense too, which it well might, and that fortunately removes it from the scope of this discussion. The fact remains, however, that in seeking to compare British Upper Palaeolithic industries with their counterparts on the opposite margin of the North Sea basin, we are gravely handicapped by the blank submerged area between. If penetration as far as Britain was the exception rather than the rule, there are presumably more sites on the present sea bed than on the present Britj_sh mainland; it is also to the centre of the distribution that one would instinctively turn in attempting to explain differences between the extremes and establish correlations. This is true for all stages of the local Palaeolithic. For the Upper Palaeolithic specifically, meanwhile, the current great revival in the fortunes of radiocarbon dating (as it seems to me) offers much our best hope of establishing the contemporaneity or otherwise of important British and Continental industries and occupations, and also of correlating the increasingly detailed Late Pleistocene climatic and botanical sequences on either side of the North Sea. In this, radiocarbon dates obtained by the accelerator me·thod clearly have a major contribution to make, and it is very satisfying to know that the period of time including the final Pleistocene and initial Holocene is one of those selected for special attention at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Laboratory. The paper in this volume by Jacobi and his colleagues is particularly relevant here, though readers will also note the importance attached to radiocarbon dates, in one way or another, by all the authors who quote them. As for actual Continental sites, Olsen and Newcomer, Moss, Dewez, and Stapert et al discuss new French, Belgian or Dutch material, while Campbell sets the British industries in a broad European context. If we turn from the Continental affinities of the British Upper Palaeolithic back to Britain itself, there are various salient points to note. Peter Woodman's paper on Ireland was received with great interest, even though no sites are yet known there: the research problems he was addressing seemed familiar and relevant to many in his audience whose own work lay elsewhere. Whether sites will eventually turn up in Ireland or. Scotland remains to be seen, but in Eng land and Wales in the past two decades there have been a number of new discoveries and also a good deal of re-excavation of long known sites. Only passing reference will be found in articles here to Gough's Cave, arguably in many ways the best British site, since the publication of recent work relating to it is in hand elsewhere. But various excavation reports are included, some concerning sites first examined a very long time ago, like Robin Hood's Cave and Little Hoyle. The results presented by Jenkinson and Green respectively, with their co­ authors, indicate that, although damage caused by early diggers is -very bad indeed, it has by no means destroyed all the information such sites can - yield, given the number of different specialist approaches that are now not merely possible but essential. Nevertheless, the general condition of British cave sites is lamentable, and most other find-spots have only yielded material from highly

3

This situation is all too familiar to uninformative secondary contexts. anyone who has studied earlier stages of the British Palaeolithic (cf. Roe 1981 ). In her contribution, Katharine Scott argues that Ossom's Cave in Staffordshire has produced a rare find of artefacts and faunal remains, It is to be hoped contemporary and associated in an undisturbed level. that more cave sites, particularly of ·such a character, remain to be discovered, since good cave sites are inclined to yield the best information In Britain, we are not particularly fortunate in the geographical of all. location of our cave-bearing limestones: people entering Britain from the east and south east would need to travel relatively far into the interior before they came to habitable caves, and such penetration would take them, generally speaking, into more rigorous environments and away from certain It is not surprising that British other resources such as abundant flint. Open sites of one kind cave occupations are often on a very small scale. or another certainly exist in the south and east, Hengistbury Head being a well known example (see Barton and Bergman 1982 for an account of some of Another is Sproughton in Suffolk, aspects of whose the recent work there). But it has stone industry are discussed in this volume by R.N.E. Barton. not yet proved possible to find major undisturbed open sites in Britain with intact faunal and floral evidence, on the scale of Pincevent or the other Are there any there, or was the whole main Paris Basin occurrences. strategy settlement in remote Britain during the Upper Palaeolithic such Perhaps East Anglia is as that no traces on such a scale were ever left? likely an area as any to produce such sites, if they exist. Given the overall poverty of the evidence, it is surely incumbent upon the archaeologists to wring as much information from it as they can. Articles in this volume will offer some insight into the expanding range of A small but research opportunities that the study of a site now offers. sure sign of. this is the number of multi-author articles in the table of contents, and indeed in the various lists of references. It is an extremely healthy sign to see the creation of teams of co-operating experts in the different Quaternary disciplines. However, the need for single-author overview articles, like John Campbell's contribution, has not disappeared: For far from it, with so much specialist information to be assimilated. this reason and others, the 'pure' or 'mere' archaeologist is by no means Quite apart .from the lost to view in the crowd of Quaternary colleagues. study of artefact� and structures, he has particular responsibilities when 'it comes to determining the nature of the site and recovering evidence in such a way as to establish clearly what is associated with what, in situ, So far as and what items of evidence are liable to be intrusive. subsequent interpretation of . the site is concerned, everything turns on Over the past few years, various fascinating aids to the this. understanding of site formation and site function have come into prominence. The conjoining of artefacts (and occasionally of other objects) is one, to which several contributors here refer, and the various branches of taphonomy provide others, while sedimentological studies are also increasing in complexity. Jill Cook's article in this volume has relevance for any part of the Palaeolithic and indeed for later prehistoric periods: she considers the kinds of microscopic evidence which are diagnostic of the different ways in which bone surfaces become altered or modified, whether by human 9r other For those British sites where accumulations of bones do occur, agencies. whether of large vertebrates or microfauna, or both, work of this kind is immensely valuable to site interpretation, and the field is a relatively new one . Even the study of artefacts has taken on a new look and a new level of 4

i ntensity ,

which

i s

f ortunately l ess c oncerned w ith t ypology t han w ith

f unction a nd t echnology . A gain , c ontributors t o t his v olume o ffer o r d iscuss w ork o f t he k inds I h ave i n m ind . C onjoining e xperiments , a lready r eferred t o ,

a re o ne ,

a nd m icrowear a nalysis ,

b y E mily M oss 's a rticle , r eplicated

s tone

t ools,

i s a nother . a nd

t o

h ere p rincipally r epresented

A t hird i s t he e xperimental u se o f

a l esser

e xtent

a rtefacts

o f

s ofter

m aterials , t o e xplore f unctional e fficiency a nd t o c reate w ear p atterns , u nder c ontrolled c onditions , f or d etailed s tudy . T he a rticles b y S andra A rndt a nd M ark N ewcomer , a nd b y N ick B arton , e xemplify t his l atter a pproach a nd t he D onald B aden-Powell Q uaternary R esearch C entre h as b een f ortunate e nough i n t he t en y ears o f i ts e xistence t o h ave h ad a s eries o f r esearch s tudents who h ave b een d eeply i nvolved i n a rtefact s tudies o f a m ost p roductive k ind . I t i s r ather p leasing t o r ecall t hat D onald B aden-Powell h imself e njoyed e xperimental t ool m anufacture , a nd w orked o n i t a t O xford w ith c olleagues i ncluding A lfred B arnes a nd S ir F rancis K nowles . S ome o f t hose p ioneering s tudies s till r emain u seful f orty y ears l ater , e ven i f w hat i s a ttempted a nd a chieved t oday i s o n ar ather d ifferent s cale o f e nterprise a nd s cientific r igour , a s o ne w ould e xpect . Work t hen i s p roceeding a t a g athering p ace o n t he B ritish U pper P alaeolithic , i n a p rofitable p artnership b etween a rchaeologists a nd o ther Q uaternary s cientists . I t i s s till t oo s oon t o s ay t hat t he w hole B ritish s equence i s n ow s orted o ut , i dentified a nd u nderstood , b ut s ome e xcellent p rogress h as b een m ade a nd c ertain l inks o f g reat i nterest w ith C ontinental E urope h ave b een well e stablished . I t l ooks i ncreasingly a s i f t he e arliest o f t he B ritish m aterial , t he a ssemblages w ith l eaf p oints , a re c onnected w ith s ome o f t he e arliest E uropean U pper P alaeolithic i ndustries o f a ll . G iven t he e xtreme n orthwesterly p osition o f B ritain , t his c onclusion r uns d ramatically c ounter t o t he o ld i deas o f a n U pper P alaeolithic i nvasion o f E urope f rom t he E ast ,

b ut

i s

e ntirely i n a ccord

w ith t he w ay t hinking h as d eveloped o ver t he p ast t en y ears . T hat t here s hould b e d irect l inks b etween B ritain a nd C entral E urope a s w ell a s b etween B ritain a nd A tlantic E urope m akes p erfectly g ood p alaeogeographical s ense . S uch l inks a re a gain e vident w hen a ttention t urns t o t he g reat e xpansion o f , h uman s ettlement t hat a ccompanies t he f inal d ecline o f t he l ast g laciation ; a nd a ccelerates a s t he H olocene p eriod b egins . T he B ritish c ontribution t o t he e vidence f or t his i s c learly v ital f rom p ollen z ones I I t o I V . W hat w as h appening i n B ritain b etween a bout 2 5 ,000 a nd a bout 1 2 ,000 y ears a go i s m uch l ess c lear , b ut i ncreasingly t here a re s igns o f a ctivity w here t here h ad b een t hought t o b e n one . I n t he v arious w ays m entioned a bove ,

I h ope t hat t he p apers g athered

t ogether i n t his v olume w ill p rove o f c onsiderable i nterest t o c olleagues i n B ritain a nd a broad . I f p rogress c ontinues a t t he p resent r ate , i t i s l ikely t hat b efore m any y ears h ave p assed a nother s et o f r eports o n t he s ame t opics w ill b e n eeded .

R eferences B arton ,

R .N .E .

a nd B ergman ,

C .A .

1 982.

e vidence f rom e xperimental a rchaeology .

H unters a t H engistbury : W orld A rchaeology .

1 4 :2 :

C ampbell , J .B. 1 977. T he U pper P alaeolithic o f B ritain : as tudy a nd N ature i n t he L ate I ce A ge. 2v ols. O xford : C larendon P ress.

5

s ome

2 37-248 . o f

M an

G arrod ,

D .A .E.

T he U pper P alaeolithic A ge i n B ritain .

O xford :

C larendon

P ress. McBurney, C .B .M.

1 965 .

T he O ld S tone A ge i n Wales .

F oster , L I LL ( eds) , P rehistoric a nd E arly Wales , R outledge a nd K egan P aul .

I n D aniel , G .E. a nd p p .

1 7-34 .

L ondon :

R oe , D .A . 1 981. T he L ower a nd Middle P alaeolithic P eriods i n B ritain . L ondon : R outledge a nd K egan P aul.

6

H IATUS A ND C ONTINUITY I N T HE B RITISH U PPER P ALAEOLITHIC : AV IEW F ROM T HE A NTIPODES J ohn B . C ampbell I ntroduction I t h as b een m ore t han f ourteen y ears s ince I c ompleted m y f irst g eneral a nd a t t he t ime c omprehensive s tudy o f t he B ritish U pper P alaeolithic ( Campbell 1 971) , a nd a bout h alf t hat t ime s ince m y b ook o n t he s ubject a ppeared ( Campbell 1 977) . I n b oth a ccounts I l amented t he f act t hat v ery f ew p rofessional a rchaeologists h ad t aken a s erious i nterest i n t he U pper P alaeolithic o f t he B ritish I sles . A fter D orothy G arrod 's p ioneering w ork ( Garrod 1 926) , t here w as r eally o nly C harles M cBurney w ho t ried t o d o v ery m uch ( e .g . 1 959 , 1 965) , t hough A ngela M ace m ight h ave m anaged t o d o m ore t han h er w ork a t H engistbury H ead ( 1959) , i f i ll h ealth h ad n ot i ntervened . O n t he w hole ,

i t w as a mateurs w ho w ere t he g reat s upport ,

t hough i n s ome

c ases t he f requent b ane , o f B ritish U pper P alaeolithic s tudies. N ow ,

h appily ,

t here a re q uite a f ew p rofessionals b oth i n B ritain a nd

i n c ontinental E urope who a re s eriously i nterested i n B ritish U pper P alaeolithic s tudies ( e .g . B arton a nd B ergman 1 982 ; B ergman e t a l . 1 983 ; B urdukiewicz

1 981;

C ollcutt

1 979 ;

D ewez

1 984 ;

F agnart

1 982 ;

J acobi

1 980 ;

K obusiewicz 1 983 ; K oz/owski a nd K oz/owski 1 979 ; S child 1 984) . W hilst t hese n ew i nterests a nd e fforts h ave b een d eveloping , Ih ave s pent m ost o f t he p ast t en y ears w orking o n A ustralian p rehistory a nd t o a m ore l imited e xtent A boriginal e thnoarchaeology ( Campbell 1 979 , 1 982a , 1 982b , 1 983 , 1 984 ; C oventry e t a l .

1 980) .

E ven b efore m igrating t o A ustralia i n 1 975 ,

I h ad

b egun t o d evelop g eneral t heoretical i nterests i n w hat o ne m ight b roadly t erm h unter-gatherer s tudies . W hen I l eft B ritain i n 1 974 , I h ad f irst i ntended t o w ork i n t he N orth American a rctic . I n m y w ork o n t he B ritish U pper P alaeolithic I h ad a lready d rawn m any e thnographic a nalogies f rom I nuit a nd A thapaskan p eoples , a nd I n ow w anted t o t est s ome o f t hese a t t heir s ource . H owever , I s oon f ound t hat t he s orts o f i nvestigations w hich Iw anted t o p ursue w ere a lready b eing u ndertaken b y m y N orth American c olleagues ( e .g . B inford 1 978) . I w as t hen d rawn t o t he o ther c limatic e xtreme ,

t ropical A ustralia ,

b y n ew

m ultidisciplinary w ork

o n A ustralian

h unter-gatherers. T hat w orking i n A ustralia w ould p roduce i nformation d irectly r elevant t o B ritish U pper P alaeolithic s tudies d id n ot o ccur t o m e a t f irst . R ecently , h owever , Ih ave b ecome c onvinced t hat A ustralian p rehistoric a nd e thnographic s tudies a re i ndeed r elevant , n ot l east i n t erms o f t he s peed o r r ate o f h unter-gatherer a daptations , h unter-gatherer c olonisation o f n ew l ands f rom t ropical t o p eriglacial , t he s ocial l imits t o ' tribal ' d istribution v ersus e cological l imits ,

a nd e cological v ersus t echnological

d evelopment. T he m ain t opic o f t his p aper i s t he h iatus h ypothesis i n B ritish U pper P alaeolithic s tudies . W as B ritain t otally u noccupied f or l engthy p eriods o f t ime d uring t he E uropean U pper P alaeolithic , a nd e specially a t t he h eight o f t he D evensian ( Last G lacial) , was

c overed

b y

i ce?

T hat

i s

w hen m uch o f t he c ountry , c ertainly

7

t hough n ot a ll

t he v iew h eld b y m ost U pper

P alaeolithic

s pecialists

a t

p resent .

I t

i s

a c entral

a rgument

o f

t his

p resent p aper t hat s uch ' hiatus h ypotheses ' , w hen b ased o n e nvironmental r ather t han e thnographic a rguments a nd i nsufficient a rchaeological f ieldw ork , a re b asically e thnocentric a nd p robably w rong . T hey a re e thnocentric i n t hat t hey a re b iased more b y a modern E uropean p oint o f v iew o n t he e nvironment a nd i ts s upposed s everity t han a h unter-gatherer p oint o f v iew . T he p articular c ase o f B ritain c an b e t ested b y r e- e xamining w hat i s a lready k nown i n B ritain a nd a broad , a nd b y c arrying o ut n ew f ield-work i n c arefully s elected a reas .

H iatus h ypotheses i n B ritain a nd A ustralia G arrod ( 1926 :

1 91192) , i n c oncluding h er b ook , d iscussed t he p ossibility o f

a n umber o f g aps i n t he B ritish U pper P alaeolithic s equence o f i ndustries a nd s aw B ritain ' as t he U ltima T hule o f U pper P alaeolithic E urope , a n orthw est c ape , r emote a nd i nhospitable ' . I n g eneral , s he a ttempted t o f it t he B ritish m aterial i nto t he s outh-western F rench s equence a s i t w as t hen k nown , w hich o f c ourse w as a n ormal p rocedure a t t he t ime . S he r ecognised s ome d ifferences b etween t he a rtefacts o f t he t wo r egions , b ut s he r elegated h er p roposal o f t he n ame ' Creswellian ' t o a m ere f ootnote o n t he l ast p age ( ibi s* 1 94) . A fter s tudying m aterial i n c entral E urope , M cBurney ( 1965) a ligned m uch o f t he B ritish m aterial w ith w hat h e h ad s een i n G ermany i n p articular , t hough h e a lso a llowed f or s ome c onnections w ith F rance . H e e nvisaged ' a c omplete o r v irtual d epopulation o f n orthern E urope , i ncluding t he B ritish p eninsula , b etween a pproximately t he n ineteenth a nd t he t hirteenth m illennia B .C . ' ( 1965 : 3 0) , c oinciding o f c ourse w ith t he c older p art o f t he L ast G lacial . F ollowing i n h is f ootsteps a nd a rmed w ith n ew r adiocarbon d ates a nd m ore d etailed e nvironmental e vidence , Ip roposed m ore e xplicitly a h iatus o f a t l east 5 ,000 y ears , a gain c oinciding w ith t he l ast a nd g reatest a dvance o f D evensian i ce ( Campbell 1 970 , 1 971) . S ix y ears l ater , a lthough I a llowed f or t he p ossibility o f c ontinuity a nd r ea daptation ( 1977 : 1 39 a nd F ig . 8 5) , I s till a rgued m uch m ore s trongly i n f avour o f t he h iatus m odel . O f c ourse , Ip retty m uch i gnored t he f act t hat t here w ere e qually l arge g aps e lsewhere i n t he r adiocarbon r ecord f or t he B ritish U pper P alaeolithic , a s t hese d id n ot s uit m y s imple , a nd I t hought a t t he t ime o bjective , d ivision o f t he m aterial i nto E arlier a nd L ater U pper P alaeolithic . A lthough I h ad d iscussed p ossible c ultural c onnections w ith c ontinental

E urope

i n

g reat

d etail ,

I h ad

i ntentionally

o ffered n o

f irm

a nswers t o t hese q uestions a t t he e nd , a gain s eeking t o b e ' objective ' , g iven t he g rave l imitations o f t he B ritish m aterial . J acobi ( 1980) q uite r ightly a ttempted t o b ridge t he g eographical-cultural g aps which I h ad c reated b etween B ritain a nd t he c ontinent , b ut i n h is e nthusiasm f or c ontinental p arallels h e m ore t han d oubled t he t imespan o f m y o ccupation h iatus. Whilst v isiting B elgium i n 1 979-80 a nd q uite i ndependently o f J acobi 's ( 1980) r eassessment o f t he B ritish U pper P alaeolithic ,

I c ompletely r evised

m y o wn s ubdivisions o f t he B ritish s equence i n a n a ttempt t o f it t hem m ore f irmly i nto s ome s ort o f n orth-west E uropean c ontext ( Campbell 1 980) . L ike J acobi , I c ame u p w ith f our m ain c ultural t raditions , e ven i f I p roposed d ifferent n ames f or t wo o f t hem , b ut u nlike h im a nd m any o f m y o ther c olleagues , I n o l onger f elt o bliged t o a ccept a ny s ort o f h iatus h ypothesis . I p roposed i nstead ( op c it : 4 2) t hat t he B ritish U pper P alaeolithic s equence o f i ndustries h ad i n f act r emained c ompletely u ninterrupted , e xcept i n t hose p arts o f B ritain w hich w ere c overed b y i ce w hen t hey w ere a ctually c overed b y i t . I h ad b y t his t ime s pent n early

8

f ive y ears i n A ustralia , a nd I h ad c onsequently d eveloped a m uch s tronger r espect f or t he a daptability o f h unter-gatherers t han I h ad e ver h ad b efore . I d id n ot , h owever , d iscuss t he i nfluence o f A ustralia o n m y r easoning i n t hat p aper , a nd I t hink i t i s n ow q uite a ppropriate t o d o s o . I n A ustralia ,

a rchaeologists h ave a lso p roposed s ometimes t hat c ertain

a reas w ere l eft u noccupied d uring t he m ore e xtreme c limatic p eriods , e specially w hen t he i sland c ontinent w as f irst c olonised d uring t he L ast G lacial ( e .g . B owdler 1 977 ; H orton 1 981; Mulvaney 1 975) . H owever , v irtually e very t ime e nough o f u s h ave s et o ut t o t est t hese h ypotheses w e h ave f ound t hat t he a rea i n q uestion w as o ccupied w hen i t o ught n ot t o h ave b een ( e .g . C ampbell 1 983 , 1 984 ; D avidson 1 983 ; F lood 1 983 ; H ope e t a l . 1 983 ; J ones 1 979 , 1 985 ; Morwood 1 984; W hite a nd O 'Connell 1 982) . T he s ole e xception s o f ar i s t he s o-called ' d ead h eart ' o f a rid A ustralia , w hich h as i n a ny c ase h ardly b een t ested a t a ll . O ne o ught t o r emember , o f c ourse , t hat A ustralia i s a s b ig i n t otal a rea a s E urope o r t he U nited S tates . D espite t he p roblems o f l ocating n ew s ites i n s uch a l arge a nd o ften r ugged l andscape , w e n ow k now t hat e ven T asmania w as o ccupied a t t he h eight o f t he L ast G lacial , w ith s ome s ites l ess t han 1 0 km f rom t he l ocal i ce-front ( Kiernan e t a l . 1 983) . T his I f ind e ven m ore r emarkable t han t he U pper P alaeolithic o ccupation o f t he E uropean t undra , e specially when o ne c onsiders t he A ustralian e vidence a s i t n ow s tands : ap eople who w ere o riginally f ully t ropical h unter-gatherers i n s outh-eastern A sia a bout 5 0 ,000 y ears a go , n ot o nly c rossed o pen w ater b eyond t he s ight o f l and ( even a t l owest s ea l evels t his w ould h ave b een t he c ase , s ee B irdsell 1 977 ; J ones 1 979 ; White a nd O 'Connell 1 982; F lood 1 983) a nd c olonised a n e normous c ontinent , b ut a dapted t o e very e nvironment i n i t , i ncluding t he s uba ntarctic o f t he t ime . O f c ourse , g iven t hat t here w ere d ifferences i n t he n eighbouring o cean c urrents , s nowfall , l atitude a nd s o f orth , t he T asmanian i ce f ields w ere n ot a s b ig a s t he B ritish o nes, b ut t hat i s h ardly t he p oint . T he p oint , r ather , i s w hether h unter-gatherers c an a dapt t o m ore r igorous e nvironments t han t hose i n w hich t hey h ave n ormally b een l iving w ithin a f ew t housand y ears , i ncluding e nvironments w hich w e o urselves w ould c onsider u nlikely , a nd t he a nswer f rom A ustralian p rehistory i s y es . T he e thnographies o f t he 1 9th a nd 2 0th c enturies g ive o ne h e c lear i mpression t hat v irtually e very p art o f A ustralia w as o ccupied , o r a t l east v isited r egularly , b y A boriginal g roups . T his i s n ot t o s ay t hat p eople c ould w ander f reely w herever t hey w ished . T here w ere a bout 7 00 ' t ri b es ' , a bout 1 000 d ialects a nd 2 00 s eparate l anguages , a nd e ach g roup h ad a d istinct t erritory w hich w as g enerally r ecognised b y n eighbouring n omadic g roups a s b elonging t o i t ( Tindale 1 974 ; P eterson 1 975 , 1 976 ; D ixon 1 980) . T here a re p roblems w ith t he u se o f t he t erm ' t ribe ' i n A ustralia ( cf . p apers i n P eterson 1 976) , b ut t hese n eed n ot c oncern u s h ere . O verall , t here w ere v ery f ew e nvironmental b arriers t o c ontact b etween g roups e xcept , i ronically , l arge s tretches o f o pen w ater ( cf . J ones 1 976) . T he m ain b arriers w ere i n f act s ocial a nd r eligious , a nd s ome t racts o f l and w ere l eft i ntentionally u noccupied f or l ong p eriods o f t ime . T here w ere e xchange o r t rade s ystems w hich t ransferred r aw m aterials a nd a rtefacts o ver h undreds a nd e ven t housands o f k ilometres , b ut t here w ere a lso t he s ocior eligious b arriers w hich r an a long s hared ' tribal ' b oundaries f or h undreds o f k ilometres a nd a cross w hich v ery l ittle i nformation o r m aterial p assed ( Mulvaney 1 976 ; M oore 1 978) . I n s hort , t here w as t remendous c ultural d iversity , a nd t he f ew p atches o f g round w hich m ight h ave b een l eft e mpty f or e nvironmental r easons w ere q uite s mall . P opulation d ensity v aried c onsiderably a ccording t o l ocation a nd t he p referred e cological s trategies o f t he g roup ( cf . C ampbell 1 982a ; L ourandos 1 980 ; P eterson 1 976 ; T indale

9

1 974) .

I n g eneral ,

d ensities w ere l ower i n a rid a reas a nd h igher i n t he

m ore h umid r egions , b ut A boriginal p eople a lso m ade r egular a ttempts t o e nhance t he a bundance o f t heir r esources b y c ontrolled u se o f f ire o r w ater a nd b y o ther m eans ( Beaton 1 982 ; C ampbell 1 982a ; s ome o f t hese p ractices m ay i n f act h ave a g reat a ntiquity ( Allen 1 974 ; C lark 1 983 ; S ingh e t a l . 1 981) . T he a ttempts t o i mprove t heir r esource b ase were p ossibly r elated t o a d esire t o s ustain l arger g atherings o f p eople f or l onger p eriods o f t ime f or e ssentially c eremonial p urposes ( Lourandos 1 980 , 1 983) . When E uropeans f irst a rrived i n A ustralia t hey d id n ot , t hese a ttributes A ustralia q uite n ow h ave a m uch r emains f ar f rom

i n m ost c ases ,

r ecognise a l ot o f

o f A boriginal A ustralia , a nd t hey c onsidered m ost p arts o f h arsh a nd i ts n omadic i nhabitants q uite ' primitive ' . W e m ore b alanced p icture o f A boriginal A ustralia , t hough i t c omplete .

A ll o f t his , b oth A ustralian p rehistory a nd e thnography , s uggests t o m e t hat h unter-gatherers w ill o nly n ormally l eave l and t otally u noccupied i f t here a re s ocial o r r eligious r easons f or d oing s o , o r i f t he l and i tself i s o ccupied b y w ater ( as u nder a r ising s ea l evel) o r b y g laciers . I n o ther words , t he h iatus h ypothesis i n B ritish ( and n orth-west E uropean ) U pper P alaeolithic s tudies i s b asically t oo h eavily i nfluenced b y m odern E uropean c oncepts o f c omfort a nd m isconceptions a bout t he a bilities o f h unterg atherers; t hat i s, i t i s e thnocentric . What m ight s eem t o u s a n i mpossible s ituation t o l ive i n , m ight s imply h ave b een c onsidered m ore d ifficult b y t he p eople o f t he t ime , b ut a ccepted p rovided t here w ere s till s ufficient o pportunities t o h unt ( or t o f ish?) a t t he e dge o f t he i ce . T he m ain p roblem i s t o f ind a rchaeological s ites i n B ritain a nd e lsewhere o n t he N orth E uropean P lain which m ight d ate t o t he p eriod o f a bout 2 2 ,000 t o 1 5 ,000 y ears a go . T hey w ould p robably b e f ewer a nd f urther b etween , a nd t hose t hat s urvive w ould p robably b e m ore d eeply b uried . W hether t here w ill e ventually b e e nough f inds c ompletely t o f ill t he s upposed g ap r emains t o b e s een , b ut I h ave l ong s uspected t hat e ven S cotland a nd I reland m ay h ave a n U pper P alaeolithic ( cf . L ong e t a l a nd W oodman , t his v olume) . O f c ourse , i f t here i s a S cottish a nd I rish U pper P alaeolithic , I would d efinitely e xpect i t t o h ave a n o ccupation h iatus , a s i ndeed I w ould e xpect o f N orway a nd S weden , b ut t hat w ould m erely r eflect t he a ctual p resence o f v ast i ce-sheets . C ertainly o ne c an n ow a rgue t hat r eindeer w ere p resent i n t he n orth-west o f S cotland i mmediately b efore a nd a fter t he D evensian m aximum i ce a dvance ( Lawson 1 984) , a nd t his w ould s uggest t o m e t hat t hey r emained i n t he v icinity o f n orthern S cotland d uring t he h eight o f t he L ast G lacial a nd s imply r etreated t o an eighbouring i ce-free c oastal a rea w hich i s n ow - s ubmerged ( see a lso S utherland 1 984) . I t i s n ow a ppropriate t o r eview, a lbeit b riefly , i n c hronological o rder , s ome o f t he p ossible c ultural s equences i n n orth-western E urope a nd B ritain i n p articular ,

a s w ell a s s ome o f t he s ites w hich m ay d ate t o t he

t ime o f t he s upposed m ain ' hiatus ' .

C ultural s uccessions i n B ritain a nd a djacent a reas T his

r eview

w ill o f n ecessity b e m ore t ypological a nd c ultural-historical

t han t he a bove d iscussion . t o s ome e xtent

H owever ,

Is hould l ike t o t hink t hat i t w ill b e

' isochrestic ' i n i ts a pproach a s well ,

t o u se S ackett 's

( 1982) j argon f or h is p articular a pproach t o s tyle i n s tone a rtefacts a nd i ts e thnic s ignificance . T his t erm l iterally s ignifies ' e quivalent i n u se ' ( op c it . 1 982 : 7 3) , b ut w hat h e m eans i s t hat o ne c an e quate e thnicity , o r s tyle , w ith a ctivity , o r f unction , i n s tone a rtefacts , m uch m ore t han o ne

1 0

c an i n s tudies o f p ottery d ecoration ,

f or i nstance .

F urther ,

t he f ormal

v ariation i n t he s tone a rtefact a ssemblages which w e o bserve a s a rchaeologists h as b een p roduced b y a c omplex i nterplay o f s tyle , f unction a nd s ubsequent t aphonomic h istory .

E ven s o w e o ught s till t o b e a ble t o

d etect t he ' isochrestic ' o ptions w hich p rehistoric a rtisans t ook u p , a nd w hen w e c an , c hance w ould d ictate t hat i t i s u nlikely t hat a ny p articular ' isochrestic ' o ption w ould h ave b een c hosen b y t wo s ocieties w hich w ere n ot e thnically r elated , a s t he t heoretical r ange o f a lternatives w ould b e g reat a nd a s t here w ould b e a s trong c orrelation b etween c hoice a nd l earned b ehaviour ,

o r c ulture .

P ut s omewhat m ore s imply ,

d etectable ' i sochrestic '

s imilarities o ught t o r eflect s hared c ultural t raditions a nd r elatedness b etween a rtefact a ssemblages . S ackett ( op c it) d emonstrates t he v alue o f h is a pproach w ith e xamples f rom h is s tudies o f t he c lassical P alaeolithic s equence o f s outh-western F rance . A s S ackett h imself s ays , h is a pproach i s n ot c ompletely n ew , b ut i t i s m ore p owerful t han m ost e arlier a pproaches b ecause i t i s b ased m ore f irmly o n t he m aterial i tself a s w ell a s o n s ocioc ultural a nthropological t heory . A s eries o f v ery g eneralised m aps i s p resented h ere t o s how t he p ossible d ispersions o f ' cultural t raditions ' , o r what o ne m ight t erm ' isochrestic s pheres o f i nfluence ' t o b orrow i n p art S ackett 's t erminology ( ibid) , a cross t he f ace o f n orthern E urope a t v arious s tages d uring t he U pper P alaeolithic . T hese m aps a re a rranged i n c hronological o rder , b ut t hey s hould n ot b e i nterpreted a s n ormal a rchaeological d istribution m aps , a s t here a re q uite a f ew p arts o n e ach m ap w hich a re s omewhat s peculative . T he m ost s peculative s uggestions a re i ndicated b y q ueries . A lthough I a m r esponsible f or t heir p resent f orm , t he s tyle o f t hese m aps i s b ased i n p art o n t he w ork o f K ozlowski a nd K oz/owski ( 1979) . T he d ata f or t hese m aps h ave c ome f rom m any s ources , b ut p rincipally f rom B urdukiewicz ( 1981) , C ampbell ( 1977, 1 980) , D ewez ( 1984) , D olukhanov e t a l . ( 1980) , F agnart ( 1982) , H ahn ( 1977) , J acobi ( 1980 , 1 981) , K obusiewicz ( 1983) , K oz/owski a nd K ozlowski ( 1979) K ozlowski a nd S achse-Kozlowska ( 1981) , M ania ( 1981) , O tte ( 1981 , 1 984) , S child ( 1984) , S chmider ( 1981, 1 982) , S tapert ( 1981) , T aute ( 1968) , a nd T romnau ( 1981) , a s well a s m ost o f t he p apers i n B anesz a nd K oz/owski ( 1980) . A s eries o f d rawings o f s elected f ormal t ool t ypes f rom a n umber o f n orth-west E uropean U pper P alaeolithic s ites i s a lso p resented h ere t o h elp t o i llustrate a nd t o s upport s ome o f t he a rguments a nd d efinitions o ffered b elow . T hese d rawings a re a rranged i n c hronological o rder a s w ell , a nd t heir s ources a re g iven i n t he c aptions . F igures 1 , 3 a nd 5 s how t he p ossible d istribution o f i ndustries b elonging t o a n umber o f c ultural t raditions a t s uccessive s tages d uring a pprox imately t he f irst h alf o f t he U pper P alaeolithic . ( Campbell 1 980 : 4 2-49) a nd t he M aisierian ( ibid : 4 2-43 ,

T he L incombian 5 3-59) o f n orth-

w estern E urope a re d escribed a gain b elow . T he E arlier U pper P alaeolithic i n B ritain m ay n ow b e s ubdivided i nto t hree m ain c ultural t raditions , e ach o f w hich s ucceeded t he o ther , a s f ar a s o ne c an t ell , t hough t heir d ating i s s till l argely p roblematic ( Campbell 1 980 ; J acobi 1 980) . T hese t raditions a re a s f ollows : L incombian ( Campbell 1 980) :

a l eaf-point t radition which p rovides t he

t ransition b etween t he M iddle a nd t he U pper P alaeolithic i n B ritain a nd B elgium , a s w ell a s p ossibly a djacent a reas , a nd w hich i s c haracterised m ainly b y u nifacially a nd/or o nly p artly t rimmed b lades r eminiscent o f t hose f ound i n t he J erzmanowician o f P oland ( Chmielewski 1 961) a nd a t I lsenhöhle

1 1

9 . ) C . ) c o . . . . 0 O D 0 3 c o 1 . c d

e › ,

8 0 N.' e n 0

4 . 1

§ O rr el Ü J . . 0 3 C O I V 3 4 3 , 3 3 4 0 0 i .

E c l ) 4 . + 0 0 U 0 4 . ) " s 0 4 . ; 0 0 , i

4 . ; C d r 4

Q ) 3 4

Z , 4 G 0 . , 4 4 J . + . 4 ^ 0 0 S . . i . J 0 0 . 1

4

E 0 U 0

. 3 4 . ) . 0 • . J 0 0 0 . , i . i J i . t S . . 4 . 3 . 0. • , 4 i n ' 0 4 1 . ) U G t 4 . 4 - W 4 3 ; 44 4 . i ( V c o 44 c o W O ß . C x • ) . • 0 •4 _ ,

A . 4 . + X

1 2

1 2

5

3

7

5 C M

F ig . 2 .

L incombian l eaf-points:

L incombe p oints ( nos. 3 -8) .

f ully

b ifacial

l eaf-points

K ent 's C avern , E ngland ( no . 1 ) ;

( nos.

1 -2) ;

I lsenhöhle,

E ast G ermany ( nos . 2 , 5 , 8 ) ; F fynnon B euno , W a les ( no . 3 ) ; S py , B elgium ( no . 4 ); B adger H ole, E ngland ( no . 6 ) ; G oyet, B elgium ( no . 7 ) . ( nos. 2 , 5 , 8 r edrawn a fter H ülle 1 977 ; n os . 4 , 7 r edrawn a fter O tte

1 3

1 979) .

( Burg R anis) i n E ast G ermany ( Hülle 1 977) . H ill ,

I t i s n amed a fter L incombe

t he l ocation o f K ent 's C avern a t T orquay ( Devon ,

E ngland) ,

which

p rovides t he b est e xcavated a ssemblages a vailable s o f ar ( see a lso C ampbell 1 977) . T hakeham n ear P ulborough ( West S ussex ) m ight p erhaps h ave b een a m ore a ppropriate t ype s ite , g iven t he n umber o f l eaf-points i t h as p roduced , b ut i t w as p oorly e xcavated a nd e ven t he p recise l ocation o f t he s ite h as b een l ost ( see J acobi 1 980) . T he p ossible d istribution o f t he L incombian t radition i n r elation t o i ts c ontemporaries i s s hown i n F igure 1 . I w ould a rgue t hat t he m aterial f rom ' Ranis 2 ' a t I lsenhöhle c an b e i ncluded i n t he L incombian , a s i ts l eaf-points a re v ery s imilar t o t hose f ound i n B ritain a nd B elgium . T he B ritish s ites i nclude B adger H ole , F fynnon B euno , H yaena D en , K ent 's C avern , P aviland C ave , P in H ole , R obin H ood 's C ave , S oldier 's H ole , T hakenham, U phill C ave a nd White C olne, whilst t he B elgian s ites i nclude C ouvin , G oyet a nd S py . M ost o f t he B ritish a nd B elgian s ites a re p oorly s tratified ,

a nd t here a re s till f ar t oo f ew d ates .

A t p resent t he L incombian i s d ated t o b etween a bout 3 8 ,000 a nd 2 8 ,000 y ears a go ( Campbell 1 977 , 1 980) , t hough t he f ew d ates s o f ar a vailable f all a t t he e xtremes o f t hat r ange a nd n ot i n t he m iddle o f i t .

O f c ourse ,

I

would n ot a ssume t hat t here w as a 9 ,000 y ear l ong h iatus w ithin t he L incombian , b ut r ather t hat w e n eed m ore d ates . T he n ew d ate f rom C ouvin o f a bout 2 5,800 y ears a go ( Gib t 1 984; O tte 1 984) m ight s uggest t hat i t s urvived e ven l onger . T he L incombian m ight p ossibly h ave t echnological a ntecedents a s f ar b ack a s t he e nd o f t he P enultimate G lacial ( e .g . a t R issori i n B elgium , C ahen 1 984) . T hough s uch d rawn o ut c onnections w ith a n e arlier M iddle P alaeolithic s eem h ighly u nlikely , I m yself s uspect t hat u ltimately t here w as n o r eal h iatus b etween t he e nd o f t he M iddle P alaeolithic a nd t he b eginning o f t he U pper P alaeolithic i n B ritain a nd B elgium , w hatever t he p roblems a ssociated w ith t he b iological t ransition f rom e arlier t o l ater f orms o f H omo s apiens i n n orth-western E urope ( see a lso C ook e t a l . 1 982; E ldredge a nd T attersall 1 982; L eguebe a nd O rban 1 984) .

A lthough

f ully

b ifacial

l eaf-points

s ometimes

o ccur

i n

t he

L incombian ( e .g . F ig . 2 , n os . 1 -2) a nd t hese a re c ertainly v ery s imilar t o t hose i n t he A ltmuhlian ( cf . B ohmers 1 951) , t he m ost c haracteristic l eafp oints a re o nly p artly r etouched a nd t hese I w ould t erm ' Lincombe p oints ' , a gain a fter t heir w ell d ocumented o ccurrence a t K ent 's C avern . A L incombe p oint i s n ormally r etouched p rincipally o n t he c entral f ace , o ften m ainly a t t he e xtreme e nds o f t he b lade , a nd i t s ometimes h as s imilar f lat i nvasive r etouch o n t he d orsal f ace ,

b ut

i t

i s

n ever r etouched o nly o n t he d orsal

f ace . E xamples o f L incombe p oints a re s hown i n F igure 2 ( nos . 3 -8) . T he L incombian a lso p ossesses a r ange o f o ther s orts o f r etouched b lades a nd f lakes , i ncluding m ainly c omparatively s imple b urins a nd s crapers , w hich a re t hemselves t he k inds o ne w ould h ave e xpected i n a c ultural t radition w hich m ight h ave b een t ransitional b etween t he M iddle a nd U pper P alaeolithic o f n orth-western E urope . F uller t ypological a nd s tatistical i nformation i s g iven i n C ampbell ( 1977 , 1 980) , O tte ( 1979) a nd H ülle ( 1977) . W hether t he L incombian s pread f urther n orth a nd f urther w est t han t he f rontiers s uggested i n F igure 1 r emains t o b e s een . C ertainly t he p otentially f avourable e nvironments i n n orthern B ritain a nd i n I reland b efore t hose r egions w ere c overed b y t he l ast m ajor i ce s heets w ould h ave a llowed , i ndeed I s hould h ave t hought e ncouraged , c olonisation , e ven i f o nly f or a f ew t housand y ears ( see p alaeoecological d ata i n L awson 1 984 ; S tuart 1 982 ; S utherland 1 984) . F inally , j udging b y t he h unter-gatherer e vidence f rom A ustralia a lready d iscussed a nd c ited a bove , Is hould h ave t hought t hat a ny s ort o f t emporary w ater b arrier b etween B ritain a nd I reland w ould h ave b een m ore o f a b arrier f or o ther l arge m ammals t han f or p eople .

1 4

W hat i s

n eeded i s m ore f ield-work i n I reland ( see a lso c omments b y W oodman i n t his v olume) , a s w ell a s o f c ourse i n v irtually e very o ther a rea o f L incombian a ctivity.

A urignacian

( larrod

1 926 ;

C ampbell

1 977 ,

1 980 ;

J acobi

b urin a nd s craper t radition w hich i n B ritain i s b urins b usqugs a nd n osed a nd c arinated s crapers ,

1 980 ;

O tte

1 979) :

a

c haracterised m ainly b y a nd w hich i s t herefore

p articularly c omparable t o s o-called A urignacian I I i ndustries i n t he c lassical P grigord r egion o f F rance ( Sonneville-Bordes 1 960) , r ather t han t o m any o f t he o ther E uropean A urignacian i ndustries . T he widespread d istribution o f t he A urignacian a cross t he f ace o f E urope a t a bout 3 2 ,000 t o 2 7,000 y ears a go i s s hown i n F igure 3 , i n r elation t o o ther p ossible c ultural t raditions o f t he t ime . I n B ritain t he A urignacian i s most a bundantly r epresented a t P aviland C ave ( West G lamorgan , Wales) , where h owever i t i s u nfortunately u nstratified a nd m ixed w ith a rtefacts c haracteristic o f v irtually e very o ther p ossible B ritish U pper P alaeolithic c ultural t radition . E ven s o , t here a re a t l east 1 42 s tone t ools f rom P aviland C ave which a re t ypically A urignacian , o ut o f a t otal o f 5 94 s urviving

s tone

t ools ,

a nd w hich u nder s tatistical a nalysis

s eem t o s how

c lose a ffinities w ith t he P erigord A urignacian I I ( Campbell 1 977 , 1 980) . T he A urignacian a ssemblage f rom K ent 's C avern ( 1 3 4 m )n , E ngland) i s b etter s tratified , b ut m uch s maller . O ther B ritish A urignacian s ites i nclude F fynnon B euno d efinitely a nd C ae Gwyn , L ong H ole a nd R obin H ood 's C ave p ossibly . T hough t he A urignacian s equence i n B ritain i s i ncomplete b y c ontinental E uropean s tandards, t here was p robably n o h iatus i n t he o ccupation o f B ritain b etween t he L incombian a nd t he a rrival o f t he A urignacian . A t t he s ame t ime w hat i nfluence , i f a ny , t hese t wo c ultural t raditions m ight h ave h ad o n e ach o ther i s s till u nclear . T he B ritish A urignacian i s s till u ndated ( the p ossible s ignificance o f t he r adiocarbon d ate f or t he ' Red L ady ' o f P aviland C ave i s d iscussed b elow) , b ut b y c omparison w ith F rance i t p resumably d ates t o a bout 3 0 ,000 t o 2 7 ,000 y ears a go . A lthough t he B elgian A urignacian i s m uch r icher a nd m ore v aried t han t he B ritish , m ost o f t he d ates o btained f or i t s o f ar ( Gib t 1 984 ; O tte 1 984) a re q uite p ossibly wrong , a t l east a ccording t o t he a nalyses c arried o ut b y D ombek ( 1983) o n a ll E uropean A urignacian d ates . E xamples o f af ew o f t he m ore c haracteristic s tone t ools f rom a s election o f n orth-west E uropean s ites a re s hown i n F igure 4 . O nly b urins b usqugs , n osed s crapers a nd c arinated s crapers a re s hown , a s t hese a re e specially r elevant t o B ritain . T hey d o n ot r epresent v ery a dequately t he f ull r ange o f t he B elgian A urignacian . F uller t ypological a nd s tatistical i nformation m ay b e f ound i n C ampbell ( 1977 ,

1 980) a nd O tte ( 1979) .

W hether t he A urignacian s pread f urther n orth a nd f urther w est t han t he f rontiers s uggested i n F igure 3 a lso r emains t o b e s een , t hough e nvironmental c onditions i n n orthern B ritain a nd i n I reland w ould b y n ow h ave b een o n t heir w ay t o f ull g laciation p resumbably ( e .g . s ee S utherland 1 984) . O f c ourse , a ny w ater b arrier b etween B ritain a nd I reland w ould h ave b een n arrower b y n ow a nd p robably c ompletely g one a t t he n orthern e nd o f t he I rish S ea . M uch m ore f ield-work i s c ertainly n eeded f or t he A urignacian a s w ell , b oth w ithin a nd w ithout i ts k nown f rontiers i n n orth-western E urope.

M aisierian

( Campbell

l eaf-point a nd

1 980) o r

t anged-point

' P erigordian V a '

( Otte

1 979 ;

J acobi

1 980) :

a

t radition which i s c haracterised m ainly b y

u nifacial l eaf-points r etouched o nly o n t he d orsal f ace a nd r eminiscent o f

1 5

16

\ ' 1 r

2 3

1

A rd „

7

5

1

1 0

1 2

1 4

1 5 1 6

1 3 5 Cm

0

F ig . 4 .

A urignacian

b urins b usqugs

( no .

1 -8 )

a nd

n osed

a nd/or

c arinated

s crapers ( no . 9 16) . F fynnon B euno , W ales ( no . 1 ) ; P aviland C ave , W ales ( nos . 2 , 9 , 1 3) ; G rotte d e l a P rincesse P auline , B elgium ( nos . 3 , 1 5) ; S py , B elgium ( nos. 4 , 1 6) ; T rou d u D iable , B elgium ( no . 8 ) ; K ent's C avern , E ngland ( nos . 1 0 ,14) ; H astiere , B elgium ( nos . 1, 1 2) . ( nos . 3 -8 , 1 1-12 , 1 516 r edrawn a fter O tte 1 979) .

1 7

4,

*

„

, •, ) . i l k i ) , ) 0 '

4 4

$ . 4 t

C O N 4

a )

. 4 . 4

C U 4 4

0

0 • & ) • C I ) C . ) • r 4

r 4

C U S . ) 0 ) 4 4 3 . 4

C A 0

X

1 8

1 0

1

1 2

0

1 3

5 CM

F ig . 6 . M aisierian t anged t ools ( nos . 1 -7 ) , s houldered p oints ( nos . 8 -9) a nd l eaf-points ( nos . 1 013) . P in H ole , E ngland ( no . 1 ) ; B ramford R oad , E ngland ( no . 2 ) ; M aisihres-Canal , B elgium ( nos . 3 , 6 , 9 , 1 3) ; S py , B elgium ( nos . 4 , 1) ; P aviland C ave , W ales ( nos . 5 , 1 0) ; B ilzingsleben , E ast G ermany ( nos . 7 -8) ; I lanis 3 ' , I lsenhöhle , E ast G ermany ( no . 1 2) . ( nos . 3 -4, 6 , 9 , 1, 1 3 r edrawn a fter O tte 1 979 ; n os . 7 -8 r edrawn a fter M ania 1 981; n o . 1 2 r edrawn a fter H ülle 1 977) .

1 9

t he p ointes ä f ace p lane f ound i n t he P roto-Solutrean o f F rance ( Smith 1 966) a nd

b y

t anged

p oints

r esembling

( but

m uch

l arger

t han )

t hose

c onsidered

t ypical o f P erigordian V a i n s outh-western F rance , i ncluding t he F ont R obert t ype ( see S onneville-Bordes 1 060) . T his t radition i s c ertainly d istinctly d ifferent f rom t he p receding A urignacian , a lthough i ts s tyle o f f lat i nvasive r etouch c ould s uggest s ome a ncestral l inks w ith t he L incombian . O n t he b asis o f h is a nalysis o f t he i ndustry f rom Maisieres-Canal i n B elgium , O tte ( 1979) h as a rgued t hat t his n orth-west E uropean m aterial h as c lear a ffinities w ith P erigordian V a o f F rance . H e s tressed i n p articular t he t anged p oints , t he r aw b urin f requencies ( the b urins t hemselves a re o f t ypes w hich c ould b e f ound i n v irtually a ny U pper P alaeolithic i ndustry ) a nd t he s tyle o f c ore p reparation a nd b lade p roduction ( which i s a lso f ar m ore u niversal t han h e w as w illing t o a llow) . I h ave h andled t he M aisieresC anal a ssemblage m yself , a nd i n m y a ssessment o f i t I h ave a rgued t hat i t f ully m erits i ts o wn c ultural n ame ( Campbell 1 980) . I t p resents w hat f or m any w ould b e h ybrid c haracteristics, a s i ndeed w as n oted b y H einzelin ( 1973) i n h is o riginal r eport o n t he m aterial . T he s ite w as v ery d eeply b uried a nd w as f ound b y c hance d uring t he c onstruction o f ac anal ( Heinzelin 1 973 ; H aesaerts a nd H einzelin 1 979) . T he m aterial i s i n m int c ondition a nd c learly b elongs t ogether . T his t radition i s s till o nly p oorly r epresented i n B ritain b y s tray f inds ( Bramford R oad , B unch L ane , F orty A cres , K ent 's C avern , P aviland C ave , P in H ole a nd R obin H ood 's C ave ; s ee C ampbell 1 977 , 1 980 ) .

F or t he m oment ,

t ype-site H ermitage ,

t he M aisierian i s

s till b est r epresented a t

t he

o f M aisieres-Canal . O ther B elgian s ites i nclude G oyet, S py , T rou d u C hena , T rou d u S ureau a nd T rou M agrite ( see a lso

O tte 1 979) , b ut u nfortunately m ost B elgian s ites , l ike m ost B ritish s ites , a re p oorly s tratified a nd p oorly d ated ( see f or e xample c omments i n D ewez 1 980 , 1 984) . D espite w hat O tte ( 1979 , 1 984) h as c laimed , t he d ating o f M aisieresC anal i tself i s s till u ncertain ( Gib t 1 984) , t hough o ne c ould a rgue t hat i t m ight f all i n t he r ange o f a bout 2 8 ,000 t o 2 2 ,000 y ears a go o n t he b asis o f s tratigraphic a nd p alaeoecological i nformation f rom t he s ite ( Haesaerts a nd H einzelin 1 979) .

T he p ossible d istribution o f t he M aisierian i n r elation

t o i ts p robable c ontemporaries i s s hown i n F igure 5 . I t m ight e xtend i nto n orthern F rance ( . .g . a t C irque d e l a P atrie , s ee S chmider 1 971) a nd a s f ar e ast a s E ast G ermany ( e .g . a t B ilzingsleben 's U pper P alaeolithic s ite , s ee M ania 1 981) . P roper G ravettian/Upper P erigordian i ndustries w ith G ravette p oints o ccur i n n orthern F rance ( Schmider 1 971) a nd B elgium ( Dewez 1 980 ; O tte 1 979, 1 984), b ut t hese d o n ot a ppear e ver t o h ave r eached B ritain . E xamples o f c haracteristic M aisierian s tone t ools a re s hown i n F igure 6 , w ith t he e xception o f 8 , w hich i s u nusual b ut w hich m ight a lso s uggest s ome l inks w ith t he G ravettian c omplex . I n a ny c ase , t his p articular p iece i s f rom B ilzingsleben a nd m ight h ave l ittle t o d o w ith t he M aisierian i n B elgium o r B ritain . T he m ost c haracteristic t ools a re t he m any v arieties o f t anged i nstrument ( both t hose s hown i n F ig . 6 , n os . 1 -7 , a nd v arious t anged b urins a nd s crapers n ot s hown h ere , s ee O tte 1 979) , a nd v arious d orsally r etouched l eaf-shaped p oints ( e .g . F ig . 6 , n os . 1 013) .

f orms o f W hether

t he t angs t hemselves w ere s ometimes e mployed a s a wls o ught t o b e i nvestigated b y m icrowear a nalysis , a s s hould o ther p ossible f unctions o f t hese t ools . A mongst t he l eaf-points , o nes l ike F igure 6 , n os . 1 0 a nd 1 3 a re e specially s imilar t o t hose i n t he P roto-Solutrean , w hilst n os . 1-12 a re m ost r eminiscent o f L incombe p oints ( see a bove a nd F ig . 2 ) , e xcept t hat t hey h ave n o r etouch o n t heir v entral f ace . W hether t he M aisierian s urvived l ate e nough a nd m oved s outh f ar e nough ( see c omments o n d ating a nd d istribution a bove) t o h ave h elped t o h ave g iven

2 0

r ise t o t he S olutrean a s Ih ave s uggested b efore ( 1980) r emains t o b e s een . A lso j ust b y h ow much t he Maisierian m ight h ave

e xtended o ut

i n a ny

d irection b eyond t he f rontiers s uggested i n F igure 5 r emains t o b e d etermined , t hough a gain m uch n ew f ield-work i s n eeded . F inding n ew s ites l ike M aisiAres-Canal w ill p robably p rove d ifficult , i f t hey a re j ust a s d eeply

b uried .

I ndeed ,

a ny

w hich

m ight

s urvive

i n n orthern B ritain

o r

s outhern S candinavia c ould b e u nder m any m etres o f t ill a s w ell ( the s ame w ould b e t rue o f p ossible L incombian a nd A urignacian s ites i n t hese r egions o f c ourse) . A lthough i t m ay b e r easonably e asy t o a rgue f or c ontinuity i n t he U pper P alaeolithic o ccupation o f B ritain a nd B elgium f rom a bout 3 8 ,000 t o 2 2 ,000 y ears a go , i t b ecomes m ore d ifficult f or t he p eriod o f a bout 2 2,000 t o 1 5 ,000 y ears a go , a nd t he s ame c ould b e s aid o f i mmediately a djacent a reas . T he s ites i n B ritain w hich h ave m aterial w hich m ay d ate t o , o r w hich a ppears t o d ate t o , t he l atter p eriod i nclude p rincipally K ent 's C avern , P aviland C ave , P in H ole a nd R obin H ood 's C ave , a ll o f which m ight b elong t o a n e arly p hase o f t he C reswellian t radition ( see b elow , a nd C ampbell 1 977 , 1 980) . T he s ites i n B elgium w ith m aterial w hich a ppears t o d ate t o t he t ime b etween 2 2 ,000 a nd 1 5 ,000 y ears a go i nclude S py a nd T rou d es B laireaux . T he m aterial f rom S py i s s upposedly f rom t he ' P erigordian V ' M aisierian ) l evel , b ut i t c ould b elong t o a n e arly C reswellian o r a Magdalenian o ccupation ( Gib t 1 984; D ewez 1 980 , 1 984 a nd p ers . c omm .) , whilst t he m aterial f rom T rou d es B laireaux a ppears t o b elong t o t he b eginning o f t he B elgian M agdalenian a t a bout 1 6 ,000 y ears a go ( Gib t 1 984 ; D ewez 1 984 a nd p ers. c omm .) . A t t he s ite o f O etrange o n t he P lateau H aed i n t he G randd uchy o f L uxemburg o ne a lso h as a n U pper P alaeolithic o ccupation w hich h as t wo r adiocarbon d ates i n c lose a greement w ith e ach o ther ( 16 ,770 ± 3 90 y ears B P a nd 1 6 ,070 ± 4 50 y ears B P , G ib t 1 984 : 1 20) , w hich c learly s uggest u se o f t he s ite a t t he h eight o f t he L ast G lacial . T he s tone a rtefacts f rom t his s ite h ave b een a ttributed t o t he ' U pper P erigordian ' ( Heuertz 1 969) , a nd c ertainly a t l east o ne o f t hem l ooks M aisierian t anged p oint) . H owever , t he b acked p ieces f rom t his s ite c ould s uggest i nstead a n a ffinity w ith t he C reswellian t radition ( see b elow ; i n a ny c ase , b acked t ools a re v ery r are i n t he M aisierian , s ee C ampbell 1 980) . A b it f urther

t o

t he e ast

i n t he N euwiedKoblenz

r egion o f t he R hine

V alley , where i ntensive f ield-work i s b eing c arried o ut o n m any P alaeolithic s ites a nd t here i s a c onstant s earch f or n ew s ites b y t he l ocally b ased ' Forschungsstelle A ltsteinzeit ' o f t he U niversity o f C ologne , t here a re s till n o s ites k nown w hich m ight d ate t o t he p eriod b etween a bout 2 2 ,000 a nd 1 3 ,000 y ears a go ( Bosinski 1 983 : 5 5) . W hether s uch s ites w ill b e f ound o f c ourse r emains u ncertain , b ut t he c hances n ow c learly s eem l ower f or t hat r egion a t l east . T his i s t he a rea which p roduced t he marvellous l ate Magdalenian s ite o f G önnersdorf ( e .g . s ee B osinski 1 979 ; B osinski a nd F ischer 1 980 ; F ranken a nd V eil 1 983) , o ne o f m any l ocal P alaeolithic s ites w ith e xcellent p reservation c onditions o wing p artly t o r ecurring v olcanic a ctivity d uring t he P leistocene . E ven f urther e ast a t I lsenhöhle i n E ast G ermany t here i s , o n t he o ther h and , ah int o f t he p ossibility o f o ccupation o f t hat r egion c lose t o t he h eight o f t he L ast G lacial . b y a b acked b lade a ssemblage ,

T his i s r epresented

t he s o-called ' Ranis 4 ' m aterial ,

w hich l ooks

r emarkably l ike t he C reswellian ( see b elow) a nd w hich w as f ound i n a l oessic l ayer ( ' Schicht V I ') w ith a c old f auna w hich e ven i ncluded m usk-ox (Hüle l 1 977 : 6 4-65) . T here a re a lso a f ew o ther p ossibilities b oth i n t he e astern p art o f t he N orth E uropean P lain a nd i n n orthern F rance w hich I s hall n ot g o i nto h ere , b ut w ill d iscuss i n am uch l arger w ork w hich I a m n ow c ompiling ( Campbell i n p rep .) .

M eanwhile ,

i t s eems t o m e p ossible a t l east p artly t o

2 1

f ill t he s upposed g ap i n t he U pper P alaeolithic o ccupation o f n orthern E urope , t hough a t p resent o nly o n t he b asis o f a s mall n umber o f s ites . F igures 7 , 9 a nd 1 1 s how t he p ossible d istribution o f s tone a rtefact i ndustries b elonging t o an umber o f c ultural t raditions a t s uccessive s tages d uring a pproximately t he s econd h alf o f t he U pper P alaeolithic o f E urope . T he v arious p ossible s ubdivisions o f t he C reswellian s hown o n t hese m aps a nd o n F igure 5 a re d escribed b elow ( see a lso C ampbell, 1 980 , 1 981 a nd i n p ress) . T he L ater U pper P alaeolithic i n B ritain i s r epresented m ainly b y o ne c ultural t radition i n p articular , D orothy G arrod 's C reswellian , t hough t here a re n ow h ints o f t he p ossibility o f t wo o r t hree o ther , b ut p robably c losely r elated , c ultural t raditions . T hese L ater U pper P alaeolithic t raditions a re o r m ight b e a s f ollows:

C reswellian ( Garrod 1 926; C ampbell 1 977, 1 980 ; C ollcutt 1 979) : ab acked b lade/point t radition w hich i s c haracterised m ainly b y C reswell p oints ( i .e . n on-microlithic t riangular b acked b lades) a nd t o a l esser e xtent b y C heddar p oints ( i .e . n on-microlithic t rapeziform b acked b lades), H amburg p oints ( i .e . o bliquely t runcated s houldered p oints) , a nd w hat I s hould n ow l ike t o t erm ' Grundy p oints ' ( i .e . a t ype o f c urved-back b acked b lade , p ointed a t b oth e nds , o ne e nd h aving a n o pposed o blique t runcation ; a f orm w hich i s e specially c ommon a t M other G rundy 's P arlour , C reswell C rags a nd g enerally r epresentative o f t he l ater p hases o f t he C reswellian ; s ee C ampbell i n p ress ; a lso C ampbell 1 977 , 1 980) . G rundy p oints h ave f ormerly b een c alled ' penknife p oints ' ( Clark 1 932 ; C ampbell 1 977 , 1 980) , b ut t hat n ame i s r eally t oo e asily c onfused w ith m ore g eneral t erms l ike ' Federmesser ' .

E xamples o f C reswellian s tyle b acked b lades/points a re s hown i n F igure 8 a nd 1 0 .

D uring c ertain s tages o f i ts d evelopment t he b acked t ool c omponent

o f t he C reswellian i s v ery r eminiscent o f t hat i n t he H amburgian ( cf . B urdukiewicz 1 981; K obusiewicz 1 983: S tapert t his v olume ; T aute 1 968 ; T romnau 1 981) , a nd s ubsequently t hat i n t he T jongerian ( cf . B ohmers 1 960 ; V an N oten 1 967, 1 978) . P ersonally , I s uspect t hat t he H amburgian a nd T jongerian a re s imply s pecialised c ontinental v ariants o f a b roader C reswellian s phere o f i nfluence a nd t radition t han h as n ormally b een r ecognised . U nfortunately , t here h as t ill r ecently b een l ittle s erious work e ither o n t he B ritish C reswellian o r o n what o ne m ight t erm t he c ontinental C reswellian ( but s ee n ow C ampbell 1 977 , 1 980 ; C ollcutt 1 979 ; D ewez 1 979 , 1 984 ; F agnart 1 982 ; S tapert 1 979) . A s I h ave a lready p ointed o ut , G arrod ( 1926 : 1 94) o nly p roposed t he b asic c oncept o f a C reswellian i n a f ootnote ! H ad s he b een m ore p ersuasive a bout i t a nd h ad m ore w ork b een c arried o ut o n i t g enerally , l ike o n t he H amburgian e specially , t hen o ne m ight h ave s een a m uch b etter e stablished n otion o f t he C reswellian , a nd p erhaps A s

i t

e ven a C reswellian w hich i s,

c ompromise

n otions

s ubsumed h ave

t he H amburgian a nd T jongerian .

b een

p roposed

( e .g .

' Creswello-

H amburgian ', B urdukiewicz 1 981, a nd ' Creswello-Tjongerian ' , D ewez 1 979 , 1 984) . T urning t o o ther t ypes o f s tone t ools , t he C reswellian a lso h as v arious t ypes o f b urins, e nd s crapers, b orers a nd a wls, b ut t hese a re v irtually a lways o utnumbered b y t he b acked t ools i n a ny o f t he l arger a ssemblages . T he C reswellian h as a s w ell a c omparatively r are b one a nd a ntler i ndustry w hich i s p erhaps m ore r eminiscent o f t hat i n t he M agdalenian o f F rance ( cf . S onneville-Bordes 1 960) a nd B elgium ( cf . D ewez 1 984) . I n a ny c ase , t he n orthern M agdalenian d oes s ometimes a ppear t o h ave C reswellian s tyle b acked t ools i n i t ( e.g. a t M arsangy , S chmider 1 979, 1 981, 1 982).

2 2

T he C reswellian t radition m ight b e s ubdivided i nto a n e volutionary s equence

( Proto,

a nd i n p ress ,

L ower ,

M iddle ,

U pper a nd F inal ;

s ee

C ampbell

a s w ell a s t he b rief d escriptions b elow) ,

l argely h ypothetical . u sual s ense a t l east ,

b ut

1 980 ,

t his

i s

1 981 s till

A s h as a lready b een i mplied , t his t radition , i n i ts i s a lso t o b e f ound i n t he N etherlands , B elgium a nd

p robably n orthern F rance a nd G ermany .

I ts

b eginnings

a re

u nclear ,

b ut

i t

m ight s tart a s e arly a s a bout 2 5 ,000 y ears a go . H owever , m ost o f t he k nown C reswellian m aterial i s d ated t o b etween 1 4 ,000 a nd 1 0 ,000 y ears a go . M uch f urther f ield-work i s n eeded o n t he C reswellian .

I ts p ossible d istribution

a t t he v arious h ypothetical s tages i n i ts d evelopment i s s hown i n F igures 5 , 7 , 9a nd 1 1. W hether i t s pread f urther n orth a nd w est i n t he B ritish I sles t han i s s uggested i n t hese m aps r emains t o b e s een , b ut t he r ecent d iscovery o f a p resumed l ate D evensian f lint a rtefact a ssociated w ith a n a ncient s eal evel i n what i s n ow t he n orthernmost N orth S ea m ight w ell p rovide a h int o f t his p ossibility ( see L ong e t a l , t his v olume) .

t his v olume ;

s ee a lso W oodman o n I reland ,

Iw ould c ertainly n ow a ssume t hat t he C reswellian b egan m uch

e arlier t han h as n ormally b een a ssumed , t hat i t w as w idely d istributed a cross n orthern E urope q uite e arly i n i ts d evelopment , t hat i t g ave r ise t o t he H amburgian ,

t he T jongerian a nd o ther l ate i ndustries o f n orth-western

E urope a nd t hat i t l ed t o t he i nitial r ecolonisation o f t hose p arts o f n orth-western E urope , c overed l argely

i ncluding t he B ritish I sles ,

which h ad b een d irectly

b y i ce . T hese a ssumptions u nfortunately r emain f or t he m oment s uppositions , b ut i n a ddition t o t he ' A ntipodean ' a rguments a lready

p resented

i n t his

p aper ,

s ome

o f

t he

e vidence

f or

t he

f ollowing

p roposed

e volutionary s equence m ight a dd s upport t o t he a bove a ssumptions :

P roto-Creswellian ( ?25,000 t o 2 0,000 y ear a go) , r epresented a t b acked n os .

b lade

1 -5) .

l oess

i ts

s tart

i ndustry

b y

t he

a p hase which m ight b e

e nigmatic b ut b roadly C reswellian-like

f rom Z wierzyniec I i n

s outhern P oland

a nd

s uperimposed o n

c learly u nrelated A urignacian

s olifluction ( Sachse-Kozlowska a nd K ozlowski 1 975) . t he t ype

o f

K ozlowska

1 981) ,

m aterial

f or

t he

b ut I t hink i t

' Zwierzyniecian ' c ould

F ig .

8 ,

i ndustry ,

material

b y

I t h as b een p roposed a s ( Koz/owski

a nd S achse-

j ust a s e asily b e c onsidered ' Proto-

C reswellian ' ( Campbell 1 981 a nd i n p ress) . a b acked

( see

T his a ssemblage was f ound s tratified b elow a t hick d eposit o f

A side f rom t he f act

t hat i t i s

i t i s o n t he whole c ertainly d ifferent f rom t he E astern

G ravettian , e ven t hough i ts o rigins m ight l ie i n t hat t radition . A s i t w as f ound s o d eeply b uried , o ne c an o nly h ope t hat r elated s ites w ill t urn u p b efore

l ong .

T he i nitial d istribution o f t his h ypothetical P roto-Creswellian i s t entatively p resented i n F igure 5 ;

i t c ould o f c ourse h ave b een m uch w ider ,

t hough t he i nitial s hift i n b acked b lade s tyle f rom whatever i ts a ntecedents m ight h ave b een p resumably t ook p lace o nly i n o ne r egion t o s tart w ith . A nother a ssemblage w ith C reswell p oints w hich m ight b elong e ither t o t he P roto-Creswellian o r t he L ower C reswellian i s m aterial

t he

f rom I lsenhöhle i n E ast G ermany ( see F ig .

p ointed o ut a bove i n t he d iscussion o f

8 ,

t he p roblem o f

s o-called n os .

6 10) .

' Ranis 4 ' A s w as

f inding s ites w hich

m ight d ate t o t he p eriod o f a bout 2 2,000 t o 2 5,000 y ears a go , t his I lsenhöhle a ssemblage was f ound i n a l oessic l ayer w ith a c old f auna i ncluding m usk-ox ( Hülle 1 977) . G iven t his e nvironmental e vidence p lus t he s tratigraphic s equence a t I lsenhöhle , i t i s h ard t o i magine t hat t his b acked b lade a ssemblage

c ould b elong

t o a ny o ther t ime i n t he U pper P alaeolithic .

T he f act t hat t here h as b een n o r adiocarbon d ating o f t he c ollections f rom I lsenhöhle i s c ertainly t o b e l amented . O ne c an o nly h ope t hat a dditional

2 3

s ites o f a s imilar s ort w ill t urn u p i n E ast G ermany o r a djacent a reas , a nd t hat t hese w ill b e s ubmitted t o t he f ull r igour o f t he b est f ield a nd l aboratory t echniques n ow a vailable . T he c ase f or a P roto-C reswellian i n B ritain i tself i s e ven weaker , t hough s ome o f t he l owest C reswellian material a t K ent 's C avern a nd R obin H ood 's C ave , f or i nstance , p robably b elongs t o av ery e arly s tage o f t he B ritish C reswellian .

L ower C reswellian ( ?20 ,000 t o 1 5 ,000 y ears a go) , t he f irst p hase o f t he C reswellian p roper , i s o r m ight b e r epresented i n B ritain , B elgium a nd a djacent i ce- f ree a reas o f t he N orth E uropean P lain . I t c an b e a rgued t hat t he p rincipal B ritish s ites i nclude K ent 's C avern , P in H ole a nd R obin H ood 's C ave , a s well a s p ossibly K ing A rthur 's C ave a nd P aviland C ave . T he m aterial f rom K ent 's C avern i ncludes t ypical C reswell p oints ( e .g . F ig . 1 0 , n o . 3 ) a nd w as f ound i n t he V estibule a bout 9 0 c m b elow o ther C reswellian m aterial which h as b een r adiocarbon d ated t o a bout 1 4 ,275 y ears a go ( Campbell 1 977 : 4 1-42) a nd s ubsequently a ttributed t o t he M iddle C reswellian ( Campbell 1 980 a nd i n p ress) . T he m aterial f ron P in H ole i ncludes C reswell a nd s houldered p oints ( e .g . F ig . 1 0 , n os . 9 10) a nd c omes f rom t he l owest o f as eries o f C reswellian o ccupations , t he s tratigraphy o f w hich h as n ow b een m ore c learly e stablished ( see a lso J enkinson 1 984) . T he m aterial f rom R obin H ood 's C ave i s f rom m y o wn e xcavations a nd a gain i ncludes t ypical C reswell p oints ( Fig . 1 0 , n o . 1 -2) ; i t c omes f rom l ayer B /A , o r t he l owest o f a s eries o f C reswellian o ccupations , a nd i t w as a ssociated w ith a n e ssentially c old f auna a nd f lora , a t l east p art o f t he e vidence f or w hich m ight s uggest a s ummer v isit t o t his s ite ( Campbell 1 977) . K ing A rthur 's C ave a nd P aviland C ave a re m ore p roblematic . T he m aterial i n q uestion f rom K ing A rthur 's C ave i ncludes a n umber o f b acked b lades ( e .g . F ig . 1 0 , n os . 4 -5) , t hough n o C reswell p oints , a nd c omes f rom w hat I w ould t erm ' l ayer A 3c% j udging f rom t he u npublished d etailed s ection which s urvives i n t he U niversity o f B ristol S pelaeological S ociety 's M useum ( Campbell , I bid . ) . I t t oo i s t he l owest o f a s tratified s eries o f C reswellian o ccupations , a gain w ith e vidence f or c old c onditions . T he a rchaeological m aterial f rom P aviland C ave i s o f ad ifferent n ature a ltogether . I t c onsists o f a p artial h uman s keleton k nown a s t he ' Red L ady o f P aviland ' ( in f act a y oung a dult m ale ) w hich w as c overed i n r ed o chre a nd a ssociated w ith i vory a rtefacts . I t w as e xcavated i n 1 823 , a nd a ny s tone a rtefacts w hich m ight h ave b een a ssociated w ith i t e ither w ent u nrecognised o r w ere n ot s aved . I t h as s ince b een r adiocarbon d ated t o 1 8 ,460 ± 3 40 y ears B P ( Oakley 1 968 ; C ampbell 1 977) , w hich r esolved t he i ssue o f w hether o r n ot t he s keleton i tself w as U pper P alaeolithic . S ince t he work o f S ollas ( 1913) i t h as o ften b een a ssumed t hat t his b urial b elonged t o t he A urignacian , b ut I r ecently s uggested ( 1980) t hat i t m ight b elong t o m y h ypothetical L ower C reswellian a nd i n t he s ame y ear J acobi ( 1980) s uggested t hat i t m ight b elong t o • h is ' U pper P erigordian% I n a ny c ase , P aviland C ave h as s tone a rtefacts a ttributable t o e very s tage o f t he B ritish U pper P alaeolithic , a s h as a lready b een p ointed o ut . I t would

c learly

n ow

b e

u seful

t o

a pply

t he n ew

a ccelerator m ethod o f

r adiocarbon d ating , g iven t he m any p roblems w ith c onventional r adiocarbon d ating , t o t he ' Red L ady ' a s w ell a s t o s ome o f t he i vory a rtefacts . A s f ar a s o ne c an t ell , t he s pecimens o f t he l atter w hich w ere d efinitely f ound a ssociated w ith t he b urial i ncluded ' rods ' a nd ' rings ' ( i .e . b racelets o r a nklets) , b ut d espite m uch o f w hat h as b een s aid b y v arious a uthors o ver t he y ears ( e .g . S ollas 1 913; G arrod 1 926 ; C ampbell 1 977 ; O tte 1 979 ; J acobi 1 980) ,

t hese

a re

n ot

e specially

d iagnostic

2 4

f orms .

T he

s upposedly

2 5

S olutrean d ates t o

2 3

4 5

1 0 7

9

8

1 3

1 1

1 4

1 2

0

F ig . 8 .

1 5 •

5 cm

C reswellian s tyle b acked t ools f rom s elected c ontinental E uropean

s ites : C reswell p oints ( nos . 1 -3 , 6 -7 , 1-12) ; C heddar p oints ( nos . 4 -5 , 8 , 1 3) ; G rundy p oint ( no . 9 ) ; b acked b ladelets ( nos. 1 0, 1 5) ; H amburg p oint ( no . 1 4) . Z wierzyniec I , P oland ( nos . 1 -5) ; ' Ranis I lsenhöhle, E ast G ermany ( nos . 6 -10) ; P resle , B elgium ( nos . 1-15) . ( nos . 1 -5 r edrawn a fter S achse-Koz/owska a nd K ozlowski 1 975 ; n o . 6 10 r edrawn a fter H ülle 1 979 ; n o . 1-15 r edrawn a fter D anthine 1 960) .

2 6

A urignacian B elgian p arallels

( Otte

1 979 ;

e arly a s t hat a nyway ( Dewez 1 980 , 1 984) .

J acobi

1 980) m ay n ot e ven b e a s

N ew a nd m ore c omplete d escriptions

o f a ll o f t he P aviland i vory a nd b one a rtefacts w ill a ppear i n C ampbell ( in p rep . ) . E xamples o f s ome o f t he C reswellian b acked p oints f rom P aviland C ave a re s hown i n F igure 1 0 ( nos . 6 -8) . T here i s o f c ourse n o g uarantee w hatsoever t hat a ny o f t hese w ere a ssociated w ith t he b urial , a nd i n a ny c ase t here m ay w ell h ave b een m ore t han o ne C reswellian o ccupation a t t he s ite . I t i s n ot y et p ossible t o c alculate s tone t ool f requencies f or a ny o f t he L ower C reswellian s ites ,

b ut a mongst t he b acked t ools o ne g ets t he

i mpression t hat C reswell p oints a re o ften r easonably w ell r epresented , w hilst t here a re a lso o ccasional C heddar p oints a nd s houldered p oints . T hough s till p oorly d efined ,

t he L ower C reswellian c ould h elp t o f ill

t he o ften a ssumed h iatus i n t he U pper P alaeolithic o ccupation o f s outhern B ritain a nd c ertain o ther i ce-free a reas o f n orth-western E urope a t t he h eight o f t he L ast G lacial m aximum i ce a dvance . A h ypothetical d istribution f or t he L ower C reswellian i n r elation t o i ts p ossible c ontemporaries i s s hown i n F igure 7 . M uch n ew f ield-work i s r equired t hroughout t he a rea s haded f or t he L ower C reswellian i f t his ' e xtreme c old a daptation h ypothesis' i s g oing t o b e t ested s eriously.

M iddle C reswellian ( ?15 ,000 t o 1 2 ,000 y ears a go) ,

a p hase w hich i s c learly

r epresented i n B ritain a nd B elgium , a nd w hich m ay p ossibly b e p resent i n n eighbouring c ountries , e specially i f o ne e xtends t he d efinition o f t he C reswellian t o i nclude t he H amburgian u nder i t , a s h as b een s uggested a bove . T he p rincipal B ritish s ites i nclude G ough 's C ave , K ent 's C avern a nd R obin H ood 's C ave , a mongst o thers ( see C ampbell 1 977 , 1 980) , a nd t he p rincipal B elgian s ite i s P resle ( Danthine 1 960 ; D ewez 1 979 , 1 984) . I t i s p ossible t o c alculate s tone t ool f requencies f or C ough 's C ave a nd P resle. T he b acked t ools s how a g reater v ariety t han i n t he e arlier p hases t he C reswellian ,

o f

a nd t here i s a n a pparent g radation b etween C reswell p oints

a nd H amburgian s tyle s houldered p oints. C heddar p oints a re much l ess f requent t han C reswell p oints , a nd G rundy p oints a re s till h ardly p resent a t a ll . B urins , s crapers , b orers a nd a wls a re a ll f airly w ell r epresented , t hough t hey a re n ormally o utnumbered b y t he b acked t ools . S ome e xamples o f b acked t ools f rom P resle a re s hown i n F igure 8 ( nos . 115) ; t hese i nclude C reswell p oints ( nos . 112) , a C heddar p oint ( no . 1 3) , aH amburg p oint ( no . 1 4) a nd a b acked b ladelet ( no . 1 5) . E xamples o f t he m any b acked t ools f rom C ough 's . C ave c an b e s een i n C ampbell ( 1977) . N ew a nalyses o f t he a rchaeology a nd p alaeoecology o f C ough 's C ave a re c urrently u nderway .

T he

M iddle C reswellian h as a d efinite , t hough s till c omparatively r are , b one i ndustry . T his i ncludes e specially t wo p erforated ' t ot ems ' f rom C ough 's C ave a nd t wo u niserially b arbed a ntler p oints f rom K ent 's C avern ( see C ampbell 1 977 , 1 980) , a mongst a r ange o f o ther o bjects s uch a s e yed n eedles , a wls a nd e ngraved r ibs .

T he b one i ndustry i s p artly s imilar t o t hat f ound

i n t he Magdalenian ( cf . S onneville-Bordes 1 960) . D ating i s l ess p roblematic f or t he M iddle C reswellian t han i t i s f or t he e arlier p hases . A lthough i t h as b een n ormal f or s ome t ime n ow t o a ssume t hat t he M agdalenian i nfluenced t he C reswellian , i t i s c ertainly e qually p ossible t hat t he C reswellian i nfluenced t he M agdalenian a t t imes ( see a lso S chmider 1 979 , 1 981, 1 982; F agnart 1 982; K obusiewicz 1 983) . I n f act, t he u niserially b arbed p oints f rom K ent 's C avern r emain t he o ldest k nown ' harpoons ' i n w estern E urope . T he p ossible d istribution o f t he M iddle C reswellian

a nd

c losely

r elated

2 7

H amburgian

i n

r elation

t o

t heir

4 ) W . 0 ) . 4 t 1 ) 4 0

0

z s c t

a c a

0

b0

2

4 . 4 0

8 0

Ü " C I

; . ; c o . 0 41 c t l

Qc s E 4 . 3 4 . 1

c O

0

> ,

. 1 3 C O

0

f or r eferences ) .

— 4

4 . 3 4 3 ( 1 )

. . t 01 3

z

e

a ) a d

0 4 3

F e

e l 0 3

W 1 . 4

e b o

w

7 = 1

e

g s 5" 0

e I r 4

W

0 ; ) 0

W

4 ;

2. 2 ) o e t z . X

, 2 3

W 1 +

. 6 1

4 4

0 —

c a4 3 0

r i 4 . )

5

" c o4 . "

c a

8

1 3

4 .8 e

. 4 . 4

e13 , 0 t o 0 P .

0 c O r 4

c o

c o 1 0

e ‚ C Z

0

0 )

c t $ • p e

c4 e l 0 0 01

28

4

5

1 0 7

1 5 1 1 3 1 2

5 cm F ig . 1 0 . C reswellian b acked t ools f rom B ritain : C reswell p oints ( nos . 1 -3 , 6 , 9 , 1 1-12) ; b acked b lades a nd b ladelets ( nos . 4 -5, 1 5) ; C heddar p oints ( nos . 7 , 1 3) ; Gr andy p oint ( no . 8 ) ; s houldered p oints ( nos . 1 0 , 1 4 ; n o . 1 4 a H amburg p oint) . P ossible L ower C reswellian e xamples ( nos . 1 -6, 9 -10) ; p ossible M iddle C reswellian e xamples ( nos. 7 , 1 4) ; p ossible U pper C reswellian e xamples ( nos . 8 , 1 3) . L ayer B /A , R obin H ood 's C ave , E ngland ( nos . 1 -2) ; ' Spit 4 ' , V estibule , K ent 's C avern , E ngland ( no . 3 ) ; ' Layer A 3c ' , K ing A rthur 's C ave , E ngland ( nos . 4 -5) ; P aviland C ave , W ales ( nos . 6 8 ) ; P in H ole , E ngland ( nos . 9 10 ) ; ' S ite C ' , H engistbury H ead , E ngland ( nos . 1-12) ; ' Spit 3 ' , A veline 's H ole , E ngland ( no . 1 3) ; F ox H ole , E ngland ( no . 1 4) ; ' Spits 5 -6 ' , S un H ole , E ngland ( no . 1 5) .

c ontemporaries

i s

s hown

i n

F igure

9 .

Whether

t he

Middle

C reswellian/Hamburgian s pread f urther n orth a nd w est t han i s s uggested i n t his m ap r emains t o b e s een , b ut I s hould t hink i t was q uite l ikely , e specially f or t he r easons w hich I a lready g ave a bove u nder t he s ection o n h iatus h ypotheses.

U pper C reswellian ( 12 ,000 t o 1 1,000 y ears a go) ,

a p hase which i s w ell

r epresented i n B ritain , B elgium , t he N etherlands, n orthern F rance a nd n orthern G ermany . T here a re u nfortunately n o s ites p ublished s o f ar w hich h ave e nough m aterial t o a llow o ne t o c alculate a ccurately s tone t ool f requencies , a lthough t here a re a l arge n umber o f s ites w ith a s mall n umber o f t ools e ach . O ne o f t he f ew e xceptions t o t his m ight b e H engistbury H ead ( Campbell 1 977 ; B arton a nd H uxtable 1 983 ; B ergman e t a l . 1 983) , b ut t he m ore r ecently e xcavated f inds f rom t his s ite a re s till b eing a nalysed , t hough t his l ooks l ike b ecoming o ne o f t he r ichest U pper P alaeolithic s ites i n B ritain ( R ME . B arton , p ers . c omm . ) . F or t he U pper C reswellian a s a w hole , t he b acked t ools a re a gain q uite v ariable , t hough s till g enerally t ypically C reswellian , a nd t hey n ow i nclude m ore T jonger p oints t han b efore , e specially i n c ontinental a ssemblages b elonging t o w hat D ewez ( 1979) h as t ermed t he C reswello-Tjongerian . I n a ny c ase , a s I h ave a lready s aid , I w ould n ot s ee a ny m ajor p roblem w ith s ubsuming t he T jongerian a s p art o f t he C reswellian . E xamples o f s ome B ritish U pper C reswellian b acked t ools a re s hown i n F igure 1 0 ( nos .1112 , 1 5) . O ccasional t anged p oints ( quite u nlike t hose f ound e arlier i n t he M aisierian ) n ow a ppear i n t he U pper C reswellian , b ut t hey a re q uite r are . S o f ar , t hese t anged p oints a re b est r epresented i n B ritain a t H engistbury H ead a nd C athole ( Campbell 1 977) , a nd t hey m ight b e t ermed ' Hengistbury p oints ' ( Campbell i n p ress) . H owever , t hey a re f airly r eminiscent o f t he w ide r ange o f t anged p oints f ound i n t he B rommian i ndustries o f t he B altic r egion , w ith w hich t hey m ight w ell s hare s ome a ffinities . B urins , s crapers , b orers a nd a wls a re a gain a ll f airly w ell r epresented i n t he U pper C reswellian . T hough s till c omparatively r are , t he b one i ndustry i s d eveloped f urther i n t his p hase , a nd a mongst t he b arbed p oints b oth u niserially a nd b iserially b arbed t ypes o ccur , a ppearing f or t he f irst t ime.

t he l atter

D ating o f t he U pper C reswellian i s n ow f airly w ell e stablished , a nd i t m ight e ven p rove p ossible b efore l ong t o s ubdivide t his p hase i nto t wo d istinctive s ub-phases . I ndeed , t his m ight a lready b e p ossible a t an umber o f c ontinental s ites s uch a s N iederbieber i n W est G ermany ( Bosinski 1 983 ; D oris W inter p ers . c omm .) . T he p ossible d istribution o f t he U pper C reswellian a nd i ts r elatives a nd c ontemporaries i s s hown i n F igure 1. J udging f rom t he c haracteristics o f t he s ingle i ndustry f ound i n t he e ngraved c ave - s ite o f G ouy n ear R ouen ( see B ordes e t a l . 1 974) , i t i s p ossible t hat t his n orth-western F rench s ite r epresents t he o nly C reswellian c ave a rt k nown s o f ar ( see G raindor a nd M artin 1 972 ; M artin 1 972 o n t he a rt i tsel f) . I t i s t antalisingly j ust a cross t he C hannel f rom B ritain . O f c ourse , t here w as p erhaps b y t his s tage e ven m ore c ontact a nd i nteraction b etween t he F inal M agdalenian a nd t he U pper C reswellian . T o t he n orth a nd w est , w hether t he U pper C reswellian p eople s pread i nto S cotland a nd I reland a lso r emains t o b e s een , t hough t he c hances t hat t hey d id s eem t o m e i ncreasingly s trong ( see a gain L ong e t a l., a nd W oodman , t his v olume).

F inal C reswellian

( 11 ,000

t o

1 0 ,000

y ears

a go ) ,

t his

f inal

p hase

i s

w ell

r epresented i n B ritain , b ut s till o nly p oorly r epresented i n n eighbouring c ountries ( for t his r eason I h ave n ot d rawn a h ypothetical m ap f or t his

3 0

p hase) . T he p rincipal B ritish s ites i nclude A veline 's H ole , H oyle 's M outh , K ing A rthur 's C ave a nd M other G rundy 's P arlour , a mongst o thers ( see C ampbell 1 977 , 1 980) . I t i s p ossible t o c alculate s tone t ool f requencies f or M other G rundy 's P arlour . H ere t he m ost c ommon b acked t ool i s t he G rundy p oint ( see a bove a nd C ampbell i n p ress) , i ts f requency b eing n early t wice t hat o f t he C reswell p oint . A t ypical G rundy p oint i s s hown i n F igure 1 0 ( no . 8 ) . C heddar p oints a re s till p resent i n t he F inal C reswellian , b ut t hey a re o utnumbered n ot o nly a s u sual b y C reswell p oints , b ut e ven b y o bliquely b lunted p oints , o r w hat i n c ontinental n orth-western E urope w ould b e t ermed ' Z onhoven p oints ' ( e .g . . G ob 1 984) , w hich n ow a ppear i n g reat n umbers f or t he f irst t ime . T hese l atter c learly f oreshadow t he E arlier M esolithic . H owever , t he m ost a bundant t ool-type b y f ar a t M other G rundy 's P arlour i s t he a wl , a gain f oreshadowing t he E arlier M esolithic a s a t S tar C arr ( cf . C lark 1 954) . A r ange o f b urins a nd s crapers i s a lso r epresented b ut, u nlike t he M iddle C reswellian o f G ough 's C ave where b urins o utnumber s crapers, s crapers n ow o utnumber b urins b y a f actor o f t wo . A b one i ndustry i s s till p resent a t s ome F inal C reswellian s ites , b ut i t i s y et a gain n ot p articularly r ich . A s i n t he U pper C reswellian , b oth u niserially a nd b iserially b arbed p oints o ccur , b ut t he s ub-types s eem m ore v ariable a nd , l ike m uch o f t he s tone t ool c omponent o f t he F inal C reswellian , a gain f oreshadow i n p art t he E arlier M esolithic . • T he

F inal C reswellian i s n ow r easonably well d ated , t hough t he n ew

r adiocarbon d ates which J acobi ( 1980) h as o btained f or Mother G rundy 's P arlour a ll f all a t j ust o ver 1 1,000 y ears a go a nd a re f rom t he b ase o f A rmstrong 's s equence „ w hich s uggests t o m e t hat t hey m ight p ossibly b elong t o a n U pper C reswellian o ccupation , r ather t han t he s ubsequent F inal C reswellian o ccupations a t t his s ite . T he r ange o f t ool-types f ound h ere w ould s upport t his . W hat r elationships t he F inal C reswellian m ight h ave h ad w ith o ther c ultural t raditions i n n orth-western E urope r emains t o b e d etermined , t hough I s hould h ave t hought t hat a ll o f t he n eighbouring t raditions b y t his t ime w ere f airly c losely r elated t o e ach o ther ( see a lso c omments a bove a nd b elow o n t his t heme) . A s w ith t he U pper C reswellian , i f a ny L ater U pper P alaeolithic m aterial i s g oing t o t urn u p i n I reland a nd S cotland , Iw ould e xpect i t t o i nclude t he F inal C reswellian .

H amburgian?

( Clark

1 938 ;

C ampbell

1 977 ;

J acobi

1 980) ,

a s houldered p oint

t radition w hich I h ave a lready s uggested a bove m ay b e s imply a v ariant o f t he M iddle C reswellian . I t d oes n ot c learly a ppear a s as eparate e ntity i n B ritain a nd i s b etter r epresented f urther e ast o n t he N orth E uropean P lain ( Burdukiewicz 1 98 1; T romnau 1 981) . T he c losest d istinctively H amburgian s ite t o B ritain i s S houldered p oints e specially c ommon s ame t ime a s t he

o n t he i sland o f T exel i n t he N etherlands ( Stapert 1 981) . o ccur t hroughout t he C reswellian , b ut t hey a re p erhaps t owards t he e nd o f t he M iddle C reswellian , t hat i s a t t he w idespread o ccurrence o f t he p henomenon k nown a s t he

H amburgian ( see a lso S tapert, t his v olume).

A hrensburgian?

( Jacobi 1 980) ,

a l ate s mall t anged p oint t radition w hich s o

f ar i s j ust p ossibly r epresented a t a s ingle o pen-air s ite i n t he m iddle o f s outhern E ngland ( Avington V I n ear K intbury , B erkshire) , t he d ating o f w hich i s u ncertain , b ut which p resumably would f all b etween a bout 1 1,000 a nd 1 0 ,000 y eara a go . I n a ny c ase , t his s ite h as o nly y ielded a s ingle t anged p oint o f A hrensburgian t ype . T he n earest p roper A hrensburgian s ites a re i n B elgium ( Dewez 1 979 , 1 984) a nd t he N etherlands ( Arts a nd D eeben 1 981) . O f c ourse ,

t he o rigins

o f

t he A hrensburgian a re n ot y et

3 2

f ully c lear ,

t hough

they would presumbably lie in a combination of local antecedents in the Bromrnian, Creswellian and Hamburgian . 'Long blade technology' (Barton in press), this tradition has no other name at present, but it is characterised especially by the production of large, long blades from large bipolar cores and the subsequent heavy use of some of the blades to such an extent that a lot of macrowear and microwear has resulted on parts of their edges, thus producing lames machures (Barton, this volume, see also Bordes 1970; 201). Few formal tool-types occur in this tradition, and all of the known sites are open-air and normally close Obviously, this tradition may simply comprise to good sources of flint. specialised extraction industries. Its dating is still uncertain, but it may fall somewhere between about 13,000 and 10,000 years ago. Its cultural affinities could lie with the Creswellian, the Magdalenian, the Ahrensburgian or possibly an early but still essentially 'late-glacial' Mesolithic, or even perhaps all of these. Conclusions and recoowendations for further research. This paper has outlined some of the possibilities for testing the hiatus hypotheses in Britain and north-west European Upper Palaeolithic studies. It has presented Antipodean information on the ability of hunter-gatherers to adapt to a very wide range of environments, many quite new to them, from tropical to periglacial, in a comparatively short space of time, and it has argued that this sort of information might suggest that we really ought not to assume that north-western Europe, including Britain, was automatically abandoned at the height of the Last Glacial ice advances, 22,000 to 15,000 years ago, simply because we reckon conditions were very severe (by our standards) and we have not yet found many sites which might date to that time. In the same vein, this paper has argued on the basis of additional Australian ethnographic and prehistoric data, as well as the fact that little systematic field-work has been carried out recently, that we ought not to assume that Ireland and Scotland Lcmained totally unoccupied throughout the Upper Palaeolithic. If any areas of north-western Europe were unoccupied when they were not directly covered by ice er the sea, then it might have been more for socio-religious r�asons rather th�n socio­ economic reasons. In �ddition to assessing the potential relevance of an Antipodean perspective, this paper has reviewed the current state of our knowledge of ° the cultural successions in Brl tain and adjacent areas. The ultimate test of any hiatus hypothesis is whether sites can be found to fill the apparent gap. As the review of the cultural successions has shown, most of the chronological gaps are greater within particular cultural traditions rather than between them, and there are at least a few sites which could well date, indeed in a number of cases apparently do date, to the most crucial of the previously assumed gaps, namely that of 22,000 to 15,000 years ago. In short, although it can still be ·maintained that there could be a number of gaps, support for the main hiatus has been weakened, and it could �ow be argued that one might have a largely unbroken Upper Palaeolithic sequence in southern Britian, for instance, from Lincombian to Aurignacian to Maisierian to Creswellian . The critical thing now is for new field-work to be carried out both within and without the known boundaries of the north-west European Upper

33

P alaeolithic ,

i ncluding

c ontinental s helves .

p reviously u northodox a reas

l ike

I reland a nd

t he

C ontributions t o t his v olume i ndicate t hat t his

p rocess h as a lready b egun . H owever , i t w ill r equire p erseverance e ven i n t he f ace o f c ontinued n egative e vidence , w hich i s e xactly t he p roblem w hich m any o f u s h ave n ow b een m anaging t o o vercome i n A ustralia . O f c ourse , i n t he c ase o f B ritain a nd B elgium m ost o f t he k nown s ites w ere e xcavated t oo e arly a nd t he i nformation a vailable i s t herefore o ften o f p oor q uality . T hese e arly e xcavations w ere m ainly a t c ave-sites , a nd a c oncerted e ffort i s n ow r equired t o f ind n ew , g ood q uality o pen-air s ites . T here i s s till s ome h ope f or c ave-sites a s t he m any n ew d iscoveries i n r ecent y ears i n B elgium s how ( see D ewez , t his v olume) , b ut i n m any r egions t he b est h ope i n g eneral m ust n ow l ie w ith o pen-air s ites . O ne p ossibility i n B elgium i s a t O pgrimbie w here G eorges M ardaga , M ireille M ardaga-Campbell a nd I f ound i n 1 984 a s eries o f f lint f lakes a nd b lades, a p re-core a nd a n e nd s craper e xposed i n ad eep c utting b elow a B illi n g f loor ( the l atter h as a lready b een s tudied f or p ollen a nd r adiocarbon d ated , s ee P aulissen a nd M unaut 1 969) . T his s ite r equires m uch f urther w ork b ut i s a t l east f or t he m oment r easonably w ell p rotected . I t i s p resumably o ne o f h undreds l ike i t t hat c ould b e f ound i n B elgium a nd B ritain w ith e nough e ffort .

A cknowledgeme _nts I s hould l ike t o t hank D erek R oe i n p articular f or i nviting m e t o p resent t his p aper , f or h is m ost u seful c ritical c omments a nd f or p roviding m e w ith s pace a nd f acilities t o w ork o n i t w hilst I w as v isiting O xford i n 1 984-85 . I c ertainly a ccept f ull r esponsibility f or a ny e rrors i n t his p aper . s hould a lso l ike t o t hank N ick B arton , G erhard B osinski , J an B urdukiewicz , S imon C ollcutt, M ichel D ewez, R oger J acobi, S tefan K ozrowski , G eorges M ardaga , M ireille M ardaga-Campbell , E lzbieta S achse-KozZowska , D ick S tapert a nd D oris W inter f or h elpful a dvice , f or i nformation w hich w as f reely g iven a nd f or t heir h ospitality .

U nless

o therwise c ited ,

a ny o pinions i n t his

p aper a re m y OWTI. F inally , I s hould l ike t o t hank m y H ead o f D epartment , G eorge K earney, a nd t he J ames C ook U niversity o f N orth Q ueensland f or p roviding p ermission a nd

s upport

t o

c arry

o ut

t his

' Special

S tudies

P rogramme'.

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4 2

W HY N OT A N I RISH U PPER P ALAEOLITHIC? P eter C . W oodman

I ntroduction I t h as l ong b een a xiomatic t hat I reland w as c olonised f or t he f irst t ime i n t he H olocene , t hough o ccasional i tems s uch a s t he M ell f lake ( Mitchell 1 976) c ould b e u sed t o a rgue f or i ndications o f a g lacially o bliterated p alaeolithic p resence . S imilarly , t he r ecent P ontnewydd d iscoveries ( Green 1 981) s how t hat m an c ould a lso h ave o riginally b een p resent i n I reland . T wo e pisodes i n t he s econd h alf o f t he l ast c old s tage p rovide p otential p eriods o f c olonisation f or I reland . T hese a re t he r elatively t emperate e spisode b efore t he a dvance o f t he M idlandian i ce s heet a nd d uring L ate G lacial t imes a fter t he r etreat o f t he i ce s heets. A s c an b e s een f rom t he B ritish e vidence , m an h ad e xpanded i nto t he n orth-western p eripheries o f E urope b efore 3 0 ,000 B .C . T he M ousterian p resumably a ssoiated w ith t he U pton W arren i nterstadial - i s f ollowed b y a r ange o f E arlier U pper P alaeolithic m aterial ( Campbell 1 977) w hich c an b e f ound o ver m any p arts o f s outhern B ritain . D uring t he f ollowing L ater U pper P alaeolithic , which m ay r epresent a p eriod o f r ecolonisation o f s outhern B ritain ( though s ee C ampbell , t his v ol" a nd d iscussion b elow) , s outhern B ritain w as a gain e xtensively i nhabited . A s t hese a re p eriods o f r elatively l ow s ea l evel , w hen i t h as b een c learly d emonstrated t hat o ur n eighbouring i sland w as e xtensively o ccupied , t hen t he p ossibility t hat I reland c ould h ave b een o ccupied d uring t he U pper P alaeolithic m ust b e s eriously c onsidered . T he f act t hat o ther m ammals a rrived i n I reland a t t hese t wo p oints i n t ime m ust i ncrease t he n eed t o i nvestigate t he q uestion o f ap otential p re-Holocene o ccupation i n I reland.

E nvironmenta l B ackground A t l east t wo d istinct p eriods o f g laciation h ave b een r ecognised i n I reland . T hese

i n

t urn h ave b een s ubdivided

a ctivity .

i nto

s everal

e pisodes

o f

g lacial

M itchell e t a l ( 1973) h ave a rgued t hat t he m ost r ecent p eriod o f

g laciation - t he M idlandian - c ould b e e quated w ith t he p eriods o f i ntense c old a nd g laciation w hich o ccurred d uring t he l ater p art o f t he D evensian i n B ritain . O n t he e vidence o f s ites s uch a s D erryvree , C ounty F ermanagh , t hey h ave s uggested t hat t he p receding p eriod o f g laciation i n I reland , t he Munsterian , c ould b e e quated w ith t he B ritish W olstonian . R ecently a uthors s uch a s W arren ( 1979) h ave d oubted t his d istinction a nd h ave s uggested t hat b oth t he M unsterian a nd M idlandian p eriods o f g lacial a ctivity t ook p lace w ithin t he l ast c old s tage . I n f act , s ome a uthors ( e .g . D evoy , 1 983) h ave a rgued t hat I reland , l ying o n t he w estern p eriphery o f E urope , h ad a t otally d ifferent s eries o f e nvironmental i nfluences w hich p roduced a h igher e nergy f ormation a nd d issolution o f i ce s heets . T herefore , t here w as t he p ossibility o f m ore g lacial a ctivity i n I reland w hich w ould , o f c ourse , l ead t o t he m ore t otal o bliteration o f e arlier f aunal r emains a nd h uman o ccupation . A n e xamination o f F ig .

1 2 s hows

t hat while I reland w as v irtually

e ntirely g laciated d uring t he M unsterian s tage ,

4 3

t he M idlandian s tage l eft a

\L 1 I sostat ic (u p l ift )c entre :

7

5

A

Zone r -

o f

l s ost atic

upl

F loating i ce

km

7

l oo

F ig . 1 2 . Z ones o f g lacio-isostatic u plift a nd M idlandian s tage i ce l imits ( derived f rom s ources c ited i n t he t ext) . G lacial s ediments l ying b eyond t he m aximum k nown l imits o f M idlandian i ce a re s hown a s a s haded a rea . T hese d eposits h ave u sually b een a scribed t o t he Munsterian s tage . C ontinuous l ines r epresent t he p osition o f m ajor m oraine l imits . 1 , B allycroneen/Garryvoe s ubstage ; 2 , H acketstown s ubstage ; 3 , B allylanders a nd B lessington s ubstage O K =K illumney m oraine ) ; 4 , D rumlin R eadvance s ubstage = A rmoy m oraine) . 2 0 m , l ateglacial a nd H olocene a ge .

i solines

4 4

o n

m arine

l imits

o f

p resumed

s ignificant

p ortion o f M unster u nglaciated .

T herefore ,

a ccording a s o ne

a ccepts t he M unsterian a s p art o f t he l ast o r p enultimate c old s tage ,

t here

i s a s ignificant p art o f I reland w hich h as n ot b een d isturbed b y i ce f or ( a ) 1 00,000 y ears p lus, o r ( b) 4 0,000 y ears ( or m ore?) . T he p resence o f a r adiocarbon

d ated

P leistocene

f auna

a t

C astlepook

o f

3 3-34,000

B .P .

( Mitchell 1 976; S tuart, f orthcoming) a nd e ven t he p ollen e vidence f rom H ollymount a nd D erryvree i n F ermanagh , s uggest t hat s lightly m ilder c onditions e xisted i n I reland a t o ne p oint a t l east i n t he m iddle o f t he l ast c old s tage . T he C astlepook e vidence i ndicates c learly t hat t here w as a p eriod o f m ammalian c olonisation o f I reland b efore t he a dvance o f t he M idlandian i ce s heets . A fter t his f inal e pisode - n amely t he M idlandian g laciation - t hese i ce s heets m elted a way v ery r epidly , s o t hat Z one I d eposits h ave b een f ound n orth o f t he Annoy M oraine i n t he M ount S andel k ettle h oles ( Hamilton e t . a l . f orthcoming) . T hus, b efore t he b eginning o f t he W oodgrange i nterstadial ( Zone I I), I reland w as v irtually i ce f ree.

F loral E vidence A t t he m oment,

r elatively l ittle i s k nown a bout o ur e arlier p eriod o f

mammalian c olonisation . T he l imited w ork o n f lora a nd b eetles f rom D erryvree s uggest a r ather c old t undra-like a spect a t 3 0,500 , t hough M itchell ( 1976) h as p ostulated a s lightly m ore l uxuriant e nvironment i n n orth C ounty C ork a t 3 3 ,500 w here s ome P leistocene m ammals l ived i n I reland ( see b elow). T he p ost M idlandian o r l ate g lacial f loral r ecolonisation i s m uch b etter s tudied . W atts ( forthcoming) h as p ointed o ut t hat s ome v ery h ardy p lants m ay j ust h ave s urvived t he m aximum c old o f t he M idlandian g laciation , b ut t hat p lants w ould m ostly h ave h ad t o r ecolonise a fter t he r etreat o f t he i ce. A s eries o f l ate g lacial s ites , f rom C oolteen , C o . W exford , a nd B elle L ake , C o . W aterford , t o S luggan , C o . A ntrim , a nd M t . S andei k ettle h ole , C o . D erry, h ave s hown t hat t here i s o nly a m arginal d ifference b etween t he f loral s equence i n I reland a nd B ritain ( Watts 1 977) . W hile t he R umex-salix p hase w as w ell e stablished b y 1 3 ,500 B .P . -w hen R uddiman e t . a l . ( 1977) s uggested a n orthwards s hift i n t he p olar f ronts - t he o nset o f t he W oodgrange i nterstadial i tself w as m arked b y s ome m inor d ifferences . W atts ( 1977) a nd C oope ( 1977) h ave s uggested t hat i n I reland t he w armest p eriod was p erhaps t o b e a ssociated w ith t he J uniper p hase , which h as b een t entatively e quated w ith t he B elling . T he W oodgrange i nterstadial w as e quated w ith t he G ramineae p hase , t hat b irch w as r elatively s carce .

w hich u sually d iffered f rom B ritain i n

A s e lsewhere , t his p eriod w as b rought t o a n e nd b y a n i ntense c old s nap w hich k illed o ff m uch o f t he v egetation ( Watts, f orthcoming).

M ännalian C olonisation A s n oted e arlier , t here a re t wo e pisodes d uring t he l ate P leistocene w hen m ammals c olonised I reland . T hese a re o f d isparate d ate a nd c haracter . T he e arlier e pisode i s b ased m ostly o n f aunal r emains f rom C astlepook c ave i n N orth C ork ( Scharff e t . a l . 1 918) . H ere a s election o f P leistocene f aunal

4 5

r emains

w ere

f ound

i n w hat

w as

p resumed

t o b e a s econdary c ontext ,

i .e .

w aterlain d eposits . S ome b ones o f H olocene mammals w ere a lso f ound a lthough t hese w ere r elatively r are i n d eeper l ayers w hich t he e xcavators p resumed w ere l ess d isturbed . I t i s , o f c ourse , i mpossible t o p resume t hat a ll t he P leistocene f auna b elongs t o o ne p articular p eriod b ut i t i s i nteresting t hat t wo b ones which M itchell h as h ad d ated h ave p roduced s imilar d ates : M ammoth S potted H yaena

3 3,500 + 1 200

( D 1 22)

3 4,3000 + 1 800

( I 1 3,256)

O n t he b asis o f c omparison w ith B ritain , b oth o f t hese w ould b e e xpected t o p redate t he I rish l ate g lacial . T herefore , i t w ould b e i nteresting t o s ee i f o ther e lements s uch a s R eindeer , M egaloceros g iganteus , l emming e tc" a lso b elonged t o t his p hase. T he f auna f rom C astlepook c ontained t he f ollowing e lements w hich w ould b elong i n aP leistocene c ontext. E lephas p rimigenius

W oolly M ammoth

U rsus a rctos

B rown B ear

C rocuta c rocuta

S potted H yena

C anis l upus

W olf

A lopex l agopus

A rctic F ox

M egaloceros g iganteus

I rish G iant D eer

R angifer t arandus

R eindeer

L epus t imidus

M ountain H are

L emmus l emmus

'N orwegian L emming G reenland L emming

D icrostonyx t orquatus

I f w e p resume t hat M ammoth i s a n i ndicator o f i slands ( Stuart 1 982) , t hen a r oughly s imilar t he C astlepook p hase , w ith t he e xception W aterford, C lare a nd S ligo a s w ell a s

p re-18 ,000 o ccupation o f t hese r ange o f a nimals b elonging t o o f H yena , h as b een f ound i n n earby i n F oleys C ave a t

C astletownroche . T hese a gain h ave b een f ound i n d isturbed c ontexts . I t i s i nteresting t o n ote t hat a m ammoth t ooth w as f ound i n M idlandian d eposits a t B allyrudder o n t he E ast A ntrim c oast ( Woodman 1 978) . T his , o f c ourse , i s n ot t he c omplete r ange o f P leistocene m ammals w hich w ould h ave b een f ound i n t he c ontemporary B ritish m id-Devensian . I n p articular , C oelodoanta a ntiquitatis ( Woolly R hino) , P anthera l eo ( Lion ) a nd B ison o r B os a re a bsent f rom I reland a s a re t he v oles ( Stuart 1 982). I n

s pite

o f

t hese

a bsences,

i t

i s

s obering

t o

r ealise

t hat

t he

C astlepook p hase f auna i s, b y I rish s tandards, t he r ichest o f o ur t hree Q uaternary f aunas a s a l arger p ercentage o f t he m ammals f ound i n a djacent

4 6

B ritain m ade t heir w ay t o I reland a t t his d ate d uring t he L ate G lacial o r e ven d uring t he H olocene.

O r ig ins o f t he F auna a nd F lora I t would r equire m ore t han a s ingle p aper t o e xamine f ully t he v arious r outes b y w hich t he l ate P leistocene f auna a nd f lora f ound i ts w ay i nto I reland . T here i s n o d oubt t hat t he L ate G lacial i mmigration o ccurred a t a p eriod o f l ow r elative s ea l evel i n t he I rish S ea b ut a s D evoy h as n oted ( forthcoming) , t he I rish S ea w ould s eem t o h ave b een e stablished w hen t he M idlandian i ce s heets w ere a t t heir m aximum , w ith s helf i ce r ather t han l and-based g laciers a t i ts s outhern e nd .

T he r elatively h igh s ea l evels i n

Z one I I i n C ounty D own ( Morrison a nd S tephens 1 965) s how t hat , d ue t o t he i sostatic d epression o f t he n orthern e nd o f t he i sland , t he I rish S ea h ad p enetrated q uite f ar n orth a t a n e arly d ate . D evoy c an o nly s uggest t hat d uring a p eriod o f r elatively r apid i sostatic r ise c ombined w ith a s hortt erm f all i n e ustatic s ea l evel , a s hort-term b ridge m ight j ust a rise b etween S cotland a nd N .E. I reland . Mitchell ( 1976) would h ave a l ocal r elative d rop o f o ver 1 00 m etres w hile M orner ( 1971) w ould s uggest a l ocal e ustatic s ea l evel a bout 6 0 m etres l ower . T he v ery t ransitory n ature o f t his l and b ridge would i n i tself c ause t he r apid d evelopment o f i sland p opulations a nd i solate I reland 's L ate G lacial f auna d uring a p eriod o f ' climatic d eterioration ( Stuart ,

f orthcoming) .

T he e arlier C astlepook c omplex i s r ather m ore i ntriguing a s t his w as a p eriod w hen s ea l evels w ere , r elatively s peaking , n ot q uite a s l ow a s i n L ate G lacial t imes , a s h uge i ce s heets w ere n ot t aking l arge q uantities o f s ea w ater f rom t he o ceans ( Bloom 1 984) . I t i s v ery d ifficult t o p ostulate a l and b ridge a t t his p eriod . C ould i t b e t hat t his f auna f ound i ts w ay i nto I reland o ver a p eriod o f 1 0 ,000 y ears o r m ore b y r andom c hance r ather t han a ny s imple m echanism s uch a s l and b ridges?

t he

T he I rish L ate G lacial f auna i s r ather b etter k nown , m ostly b ecause o f o ccurrence o f l arge n umbers o f G iant I rish D eer s keletons . E ven i n

1 949 , M itchell h ad r ecorded o ver 1 70 l ocations p roducing G iant I rish D eer ( Mitchell a nd P arkes 1 949) . A t B allybetagh , C o . D ublin , R eindeer b ones a re p resumed t o b e c ontemporary w ith G iant I rish D eer . S tuart ( 1982) h as n oted t hat i t i s i mpossible t o s tate w ith a ny c ertainty t hat a ny o ther m ammals e xisted i n I reland a t t his p eriod . I t i s , h owever , q uite p ossible t hat s ome s pecies o f w olf , l emming a nd a rctic f ox , w hich a re k nown t o o ccur i n I rish c aves , b elong t o t his p hase . D ue t o t heir m assive a ntlers , t he G iant D eer h ave b ecome t he m ost s triking a spect o f t he L ate G lacial f auna . I t h as s ometimes b een s uggested t hat m ales a re o ver r epresented , d ue t o t heir h eavy a ntlers ' c ausing t hem t o b ecome m ore e asily m ired i n b ogs . M itchell a nd P arkes ( 1949) n oted t hat t here w ere m any f ragments o f G iant D eer b odies d iscovered a nd B arnowski r ecently ( pers c omm ) h as s uggested t hat m any m ay s imply h ave d ied o n l ake e dges a nd b een w ashed i n. T he m ost i nteresting a spect o f t he I rish L ate G lacial f auna i s t hat w hile s o m uch o f t he B ritish c ave f aunal r emains c annot b e a ttributed t o a s pecific p hase w ithin t he L ate G lacial s equence , i t i s p robably t hat , d uring Z one I I , a nimals s uch a s h orse a nd e lk w ere a s ignificant e lement i n t he s teppeland e nvironment o f B ritain , e .g . H igh F urlong ( Hallam e t . a l . 1 973 , b ut s ee a lso J acobi a nd G owlett , t his v olume) . I n t hese s ame r elatively w arm g rassy s teppelands i n I reland , r eindeer s urvived s ide b y s ide w ith G iant I rish D eer . W hile t he G iant D eer m ay h ave b een k illed o ff o r r educed

4 7

d uring t he q uantity o f d eposits i n G iant I rish

c old N ahangan s tage, Z one I II, d ue t o t he r eduction o f t he i ts f ood , p resumably R eindeer c ontinued t o s urvive . I n m arine L arne L ough , R eindeer b ones h ave b een f ound s tratified a bove D eer .

T he A ssessment o f A rchaeological P otential A t t he m oment , t he e arliest c ertain h uman o ccupation o f I reland b egins a bout 7 ,000 b .c . ( Woodman 1 981, 1 981a a nd f orthcoming) . T here i s, s o f ar , n o e quivalent o f t he e arliest B ritish M esolithic e ither i n t erms o f r adiocarbon d ated a ssemblages o r e ven o n t ypological g rounds. T herefore, c an w e s eriously c onsider t he p ossibility o f a n e arly L ate P leistocene o ccupation o f I reland?

T he N egative I ndicators T he m ost i mportant o f t hese i s t he f act t hat n o a rchaeological e vidence f or t he p resence o f m an h as b een f ound i n I reland 's L ate P leistocene . I n p articular , n umerous G iant I rish D eer h ave b een f ound , s ome o f w hich a re a rticulated s keletons . N one h as p roduced a rtefacts i n a ssociation - a s i n t he c ase o f t he H igh F urlong E lk ( Hallam e t . a l . 1 973) . T he v ery f act t hat s uch l arge n umbers o f G iant D eer h ave b een f ound a nd t he r elative s carcity o f t rees i n t he W oodgrange i nterstadial m ust m ake o ne w onder w hether t hese a nimals f lourished d ue t o t he l ack o f p redators , e ven t he w olf , o r m ore i mportantly m an . O ne m ight a lso h ave e xpected s ome d istinctive a rtefacts m ade f rom G iant D eer a ntlers . S imilarly , t here h ave b een n umerous i nvestigations o f c aves w here L ate P leistocene f aunal r emains o ccur . N one o f t hese c aves h as p roduced e vidence f or h uman o ccupation . D r . T heya M olleson ( forthcoming ) h as f inally s hown t hat t he K ilgreany B s keleton w as a n i ntrusive N eolithic b urial. C ontributory F actors M itchell 's i llustration ( 1976 :74) s hows a t ypical m ethod o f d iscovery o f a ntlers . P robing a nd r apid e xcavating a re n ot g oing t o e nhance t he p robability o f d iscovering h uman a rtefacts i n a ssociation w ith t he G iant D eer .

I f B arnowski

( pers

c omm ) i s

n atural d eath o n l ake s hores ,

c orrect

t hat

m ost

o f

t hem h ad d ied a

t hen t hey w ould n ot h ave b een a ssociated w ith

a rtefacts. A lthough s ome c aves h ave p roduced i mpressive q uantities o f f aunal r emains , t he m aterial i s u sually i n w aterlain d eposits , e .g . C astlepook ( Scharff e t a l 1 918) , F oleys C aves, C astletownroche ( Gwynn e t a l 1 942) , K ilgreany e tc . ( Molleson f orthcoming ) , a nd i n s ome c ases , t hese d eposits w ere c reated a fter t he P leistocene , e .g . K ilgreany , o r , a s i n t he c ase o f s ome o f t he d eposits i n t he C astletownroche a rea , c reated b y g lacial o utw ash d own t he A wbeg f rom t he a djacent M idlandian i ce s heets . N aturally f ormed c ave d eposits h ave r arely p roduced n umerous e arly a rtefacts . A t P oll n a G ollum , C o . F ermanagh , a B ronze A ge d eposit o f b ones , f ormed n aturally , c ontained n o h uman a rtefacts . I n m any i nstances , e xcavations h ave t aken p lace q uite d eep i n c aves , a s ituation w here h uman s ettlements t end t o b e q uite r are . A gain , t he v ery l ocation o f m any o f t he s outhernmost c aves i n E ast C ork a nd W aterford h as b een i n l ow l ying v alley

4 8

b ottoms which would n ot b e p artic u larly a ttractive ez l-l er i n t erms o f c onditions o r e nvironment . S imilarly , t hese c aves l ose a ny p otential s trategic v alue a s l ook o ut p ositions f or h unters . P ast r esearch s trategies g eared t o f inding P leistocene f auna r ather t han h uman s ettlement c ould h ave b uilt u p a b iased p icture .

A s econd s eries o f

c ontributory f actors i s b ased o n t he a ttitude o f a rchaeologists . O n t he b asis o f p resent B ritish U pper P alaeolithic a rtefact d istributions , w e c ould a ssume t hat t he s outhern t hird o f I reland would b e m ost l ikely t o b e c olonised d uring t he U pper P alaeolithic . T his , h owever , h as b een t he a rea w here i t h as o ften b een B resumed t hat h uman c olonisation w as r ecent ( see D e V alera a nd 0 N uallgin 1 983; W oodman 1 9874 , 1 985).

r elatively

T he r ecent d iscovery o f a M esolithic i n t he P rovince o f M unster h as s hown t hat t here i s a m uch g reater l ength o f h uman o ccupation i n t his a rea t han h ad b een e xpected . O ne r eason w hy t his e arly s ettlement w as p resumed a bsent was t he s upposed a bsence o f s uitable r aw m aterials f or t ool m anufacture . Woodman ( 1984) h as s hown t hat f lint i s p resent i n s ome , t hough n ot l arge , q uantities o n t he s outhern c oast . H owever , g iven t he l oss o f

t he

c oastlines

c ontemporary w ith

t he

U pper

P alaeolithic ,

o ur

s earch ,

g eared m ore s pecifically t o t he d iscovery o f Mesolithic a nd l ater s ettlement , h as t aken u s i nto t he C astletownroche , C astlepook a rea . H ere , a s i n m any i nland p arts o f M unster , f lint c an b e r elatively s carce - i f n ot a bsent - t hus t he d iscovery o f p rehistoric s ites r equires v ery c areful f ieldwalking p rogrammes . U pper P alaeolithic o r m ore p articularly L ate G lacial s ites s uch a s t he H amburgian o nes r ecently f ound i n D enmark ( Holm a nd F leming 1 984) a re s o s mall t hat t he c hances o f t heir d iscovery i n a reas w here f lint i s u sed c arefully i s s light , w ith a c orresponding l ow c hance o f a ccidental d iscovery . T he B lackwater V alley h as n ow p roduced o ver 2 0 l ocations w ith p rehistoric a rtefacts w here , b efore t he R oyal I rish A cademy f unded f ieldwalking p rogrammes , t here w ere n one k nown . I n s ummary , g iven t he l ack o f d iscovery o f a ny p rehistoric s ett lement , t he a bsence o f U pper P alaeolithic s ettlement i s n ot s ignificant. T he p resence o f m ammals i n I reland a t t wo p oints d uring t he P leistocene c ould b e r egarded a s a n i ndication o f t he p otential o f I reland f or h uman o ccupation d uring t he U pper P alaeolithic.

D iscussion T he p revious s ection c ould b e s ummarised b y t he s tatement t hat t here a re n o c onvincing a rguments o r e vidence i n f avour o f o r a gainst a n U pper P alaeolithic i n I reland. I nitially , t he L ate G lacial e pisode would s eem a more a ttractive p roposition f or P alaeolithic c olonisation . I n B ritain , t he l arger n umber o f f ind s pots i n a s hort t ime p eriod a nd t he g reater e xtent o f o ccupation m ust m ake o ne w onder w hether m an c ould h ave g ot t o I reland - p articularly a s t he l owland c oastal s ettlement o f w estern B ritain h as b een l ost ( Campbell 1 977 ; M ap 4 6 a nd s ee a lso h is c ontribution t o t his v olume) . T he p roblem h ere w ould s eem t o b e a m atter o f t iming . I reland 's L ate G lacial f auna i s v ery r estricted a nd m ay h ave m igrated i nto I reland d uring a v ery l imited p art o f Z one I . B ritain 's L ate G lacial f auna ,

T he a bsence o f h orse , a n i mportant e lement i n e .g . G ough 's C ave , c ould s uggest t he i solation

o f I reland a t av ery e arly d ate .

T he k ey p roblem h ere i s w hether w e a rgue

4 9

f or

a l ate r ecolonisation o f

B ritain :

c f .

J acobi

1 981,

a nd s ee C ampbell ,

t his v ol . , t hough r ecently J acobi w ould s eem t o h ave a bandoned t he i dea o f a v ery l ate c olonisation d uring Z one I I ( Burleigh e t . a l . 1 985) . I n o ther w ords , t he l ater B ritain w as r ecolonised , t he h igher t he s ea l evel , a nd t hus t he g reater t he o bstacle t o c olonising I reland . O ne p ossible s cenario c ould b e t hat G iant D eer a nd R eindeer p enetrated t o I reland a cross a l and b ridge f rom a p art o f B ritain , i .e . S cotland, where t here i s a s y et n o e vidence f or a h uman p resence ( Stuart f orthcoming) . H owever , t he s mall , t anged p oints f rom t he O rkneys a nd H ebrides n oted b y L ivens ( 1956) c ould b e s een a s m ore c ompatible w ith a L ate G lacial c omplex t han w ith t he I rish L ater M esolithic . T hese a re s ignificantly more b elievable t han t hose f ragments f rom J ura which M ercer ( 1974) t hought w ere t anged p oints. T herefore , e ven t he p ossibility o f c olonising I reland f rom S cotland m ust b e c onsidered . F urther s outh , e ntry w ould h ave t o b e a cross o pen w ater . A s h as b een n oted e lsewhere ( Woodman 1 978) , d istance a cross o pen w ater m ay n ot b e ag reat o bstacle - a bilities t o s ee a nother s hore c ould b e o f e qual i mportance - b ut i n a L ate G lacial o r i nterstadial e nvironment , d istance a cross a p otentially h ostile e nvironment , e ither o pen w ater o r i ce , c ould b e o f g reater i mportance . C onversely , t he e arlier e pisode b ased o n t he p resence o f m ammalian f auna a t C astlepook a ppears , a t f irst , l ess a ttractive . H owever , u nlike t he L ate G lacial c olonisation o f B ritain , man c ould h ave b een i n B ritain f or a s ignificant t ime , e ven i f o nly i ntermittently , f rom 4 0 ,000-25 ,000 f rom t he M ousterian t hrough t he L eaf P oint c omplex t o s omething m ore a kin t o t he F ont • ‚ R obert c omplex ( cf . C ampbell , t his v olume) . T he f acts t hat t he b roadest r ange o f Q uaternary f aunas t o b e f ound i n I reland o ccurred a t t his d ate b efore t he M idlandian a dvance - a nd t hat e ven t he H ighlands o f S cotland w ere i nhabited b y M ammoth a nd R hino ( Price 1 983) , m ust m ean t hat m an t oo h ad a m uch g reater c hance o f f inding h is w ay t o I reland , p roviding h e h ad t he a ppropriate m aterial e quipment. I n s ummary , t he c hances t hat m an c ould h ave r eached I reland d ryshod d uring L ate G lacial t imes a re s light . I ce c rossings o r b oat c rossings w ould b e n ecessary , s o t hat t here i s j ust a s g reat a l ikelihood t hat w e c ould f ind t he e quivalent o f t he B ritish E .U .P . a s t he T he l arger t imespan o f t he f ormer w ould c ompensate f or t he g reater i ntensity a nd h igher p opulation d ensity o f t he l atter . T hus, t he a bsence o f aL ate G lacial o ccupation o f I reland w ould n ot p reclude t he p ossibility t hat m an c ould h ave b een p resent a t a n e arlier d ate.

R esearch S trategies T he p ossibility o f a P alaeolithic p resence i n I reland o f c ourse m akes o ne e xamine t he e xtant a rchaeological r ecord w ith g reater c are . W ith t he d anger o f w ishfulfiment f orcing a rtefacts i nto b ecoming t ype f ossils f or e arlier p eriods , i ndividual p ieces m ust b e t reated w ith g reat s cepticism . T hus , o ccasional f ragments o f l arge s urface r etouched f lakes a re b est s een a s N eolithic p lano-convex k nives r ather t han E .U .P . l eaf p oints , a nd t anged f lakes

a s

L ater

M esolithic

r ather

t han P alaeolithic

c onsistent a ssemblage o r m aterial f rom a d ated c ontext A f ew

l arge

b acked b lades h ave

f orms.

s hould b e

O nly

a

t rusted .

b een f ound which c ould e ventually b e

c onsidered a s L ate G lacial - o ne p articular e xample h as b een f ound i n C ounty W aterford o n t he B lackwater R iver n ear Y oughal , b ut t his m ay w ell b e E arly M esolithic i n d ate.

5 0

A s n oted e arlier , m ost o f o ur c aves s eem t o b e i n i nappropriate l ocations a nd s o e ven e xcavations o f p otentially b etter p ortions o f t hem w ould p robably b e t ributaries o f t he m ore p roductive . m ore r eminiscent o f

f ruitless ; h owever , p erhaps t hose i n t he c liffs o f t he B lackwater - n otably t he A wbeg a nd F unshion - m ight b e T hese n arrow v alleys c utting t he l imestone p lateau a re C heddar G orge t han t he D ordogne.

O pen s ettlements a re , o f c ourse , m uch I reland , w e h ave a reas w here r aw m aterials where c over s and m ay n ot e xist . O ccupation h as b een n oted b y m any a uthors , e .g . J acobi

more d ifficult t o f ind . I n a re n ot e asily a vailable b ut i n B ritain i s r ather s parse a s 1 981 : t herefore , i t w ould b e

e xceptionally s parse i n I reland . A p rogramme o f c onscious e xamination o f l ikely a reas f or P leistocene h unter-gatherer s ettlement i s r equired a s p resent r esearch p rogrammes a re p robably l ooking i n t he w rong a rea . H ere d ifferent p redictions w ill h ave t o b e f ormulated f or b road s pectrum P leistocene m ammal h unting : R eindeer e conomies a nd p erhaps e ven G iant D eer e conomies. O n t he b asis o f a nalogy w ith t he I rish M esolithic , a t otally d ifferent e cology m ay h ave d eveloped h ere . B esides t he e ffects o f t he a bsence o f c ertain a nimals , t he m ore w esterly p osition o f I reland n eed n ot n ecessarily h ave a lways b een b etter a s t here may h ave b een c onsiderably h igher s nowfalls , w hich w ould h ave a n e ffect i n l imiting f ood a vailability f or c ertain m ammals.

S ummary a nd C onclusions I t i s d ifficult t o p arallel t he I rish p roblem w ith o ther a reas .

M any o ther

p arts o f E urope w ere n ot c olonised b ecause t hey w ere c overed i n i ce .

T he

American e xperience a gain d oes n ot e xactly p arallel I reland , a s l and b ridges m ay h ave e xisted i n B eringia a t s everal d ates . O ne c annot b ut b e i mpressed b y t he d ifficulty i n c olonising A merica a nd t he f act t hat i t w as a chieved , e ven i f o nly b y L ate W isconsin t imes ( Fladmark 1 983) . T he m ost i mportant a spect o f a ttempting t o e stablish t he e xistence o f a L ate P leistocene c olonisation o f I reland i s n ot t hat o f a l ocal o r r egional i nterest i n p ushing b ack o ne 's o wn a ntiquity . I nstead , t he whole q uestion r eflects. t wo o ther a spects o f t he b roader i ssue o f h uman p resence i n N .W . E urope a t t his p eriod : ( 1)

T he

d ate ,

e xtent

a nd

i ntensity

o f

t he

r ecolonisation o f

N .W .

E urope

w ill b e r eflected i n p art i n w hether m an r eached I reland o r n ot. ( 2) I t may r eflect o n t he o ne a spect o f t he e conomy o f t he U pper P alaeolithic t o w hich a n ominal l ip s ervice i s p aid , i .e . t he m arine a spect o f t heir e conomy ,

e vidence f or w hich i s u sually b uried b eneath t he p resent

s ea . A n U pper P alaeolithic p resence i n I reland c ould i ndicate t hat m arine r esources p layed a s ignificant r ole d uring t he U pper P alaeolithic. If eel t hat , a t t he v ery l east , w e m ust f ind s ome w ay o f d emonstrating t hat man w as n ot p resent i n I reland d uring t he L ate P leistocene r ather t han s imply a ssume t hat h e w as n ot h ere.

5 1

A c .knowledgements I w ould l ike t o t hank D r . R . D evoy f or p roviding m e w ith F ig . 1 2 a nd f or d iscussing w ith m e t he p roblems o f P leistocene s ea l evel c hange . I w ould a lso l ike t o t hank M s . A ngela D esmond f or t yping t he o riginal t ext o f t his a rticle.

R eferences B loom , A .L . 1 984 . S ea l evel a nd c oastal m orphology o f t he U nited S tates t hrough t he l ate W isconsin G lacial M aximum . I n L ate Q uaternary E nvironments o f t he U nited S tates, V ol . 2 . T he H olocene, e d . H .E. W right, J r . M inneapolis: U niversity o f M innesota P ress. 2 15-218. B urleigh , R . , J acobi , E .B . a nd J acobi, R .M. 1 985 . E arly h uman r esettlement o f t he B ritish I sles f ollowing t he l ast g lacial maximum . Q uaternary N ewsletter , 4 5: 1 -6. C ampbell ,

J .B .

1 977.

T he U pper P alaeolithic o f B ritain : A S tudy o f M an

a nd N ature i n t he L ate I ce A ge .

V ols .

1a nd 2 .

O xford :

C larendon P ress .

C oope , G .R . 1 977 . F ossil c oleopteran a ssemblages a s s ensitive i ndicators o f c limatic c hange d uring t he D evensian c old s tage , P hil . Trans . Roy . S oc . L ondon b . 2 80 : 3 13-40 . D e V alera , R . a nd Ö N uallgin , V ol . 3 . D ublin .

S .

1 983 .

T he M egalithic S urvey o f I reland ,

D evoy , R .J . 1 983 . L ate Q uaternary s horelines i n I reland : a n a ssessment o f t heir i mplications f or i sostatic l and m ovement a nd r elative s ea l evel c hanges . I n S horelines a nd I sostasy , e ds. D .E. S mith a nd A .G . D awson . I nst . o f B ritish G eographers S pecial P ublication , n o . 1 6 . L ondon : A cademic P ress.

2 27-254.

D evoy , R .J . f orthcoming . P ossible l andbridges b etween I reland a nd B ritain : ag eological a ppraisal .In T he P ost G lacial C olonisation o f I reland . e ds . P . S leeman , R . D evoy a nd P . W oodman . P ubl . J . I rish B iogeographical S oc , N o. 1 . F ladmark , K . 1 983 . T ime a nd p laces : e nvironmental c orrelates o f m id t o l ate W isconsinian h uman p opulation e xpansion i n N . A merica . I n E arly M an i n t he N ew W orld, e d. R . S hutler , 1 3-42. G reen , H .S. 1 981. T he F irst W elshman :

e xcavations

a t

P ontnewydd .

A ntiquity , 5 5: 1 84-196. Gwynn , A .M. , M itchell , G .F . a nd S telfox , A .W . s ome c aves n ear C astletownroche ,

C o . C ork ,

1 942.

T he e xploration o f

P roc . Roy . I rish A cad . ,

4 7B :

3 71-

3 90. H allam,

J .S. , E dwards, B .J .N . , B arnes, B . a nd S tuart, A .J .

G lacial e lk w ith a ssociated b arbed p oints P rehist . S oc . 3 9 : 1 00128 .

5 2

1 973 .

A L ate

f rom H igh F urlong .

P roc .

H amilton , A . , D alzell, L .R . , L enehan , B .P. a nd McDonagh , B .J . f orthcoming . A p alynological i nvestigation o f k ettle-hole s ediments a t M ount S andel . I n E xcavations a t M ount S andel 1 973-77 , e d . P .C . W oodman . B elfast : H .M .S .° . N orthern I reland , 1 85-192. H olm, J . a nd F lemming , R . 1 984 . J els I - t he f irst D anish s ite o f t he H amburgian C ulture. J . D anish A rchaeology, 2 , 7 11. J acobi , R .M . 1 981. T he L ate W eichselian p eopling o f B ritain a nd N orth W est E urope . I n A rchaeologia I nterregionalis I , e ds . J . a nd S . K ozlowski, K drakow , 5 7-76. L ivens, R . 1 956. T hree t anged f lint p oints f rom S cotland . A ntiq. S cot. 8 9: 4 38-443. M ercer ,

J .

1 974 .

N ew C1 4

d ates

f rom

I sle o f J ura ,

A rgyll .

P roc. S oc .

A ntiquity .

4 8 : 6 5-66. M itchell , G .F.

1 976.

T he I rish L andscape.

M itchell , G .F . a nd P arkes , H .M . 1 949. P roc. R oy. I rish A cad. 5 2B : 2 91-314.

L ondon .

T he G iant I rish D eer i n I reland .

M itchell , G .F . , P enny , L .F . , S hotton , F .W . a nd West, c orrelation o f Q uaternary d eposits i n t he B ritish I sles .

R .G . 1 973 . A G eol . S oc . Lond .

S pec. R ep. 4 . M olleson , T . f orthcoming . N ew K ilgreany C ave , C ounty W aterford. Morner , c hange.

N .A . 1 971. Q uaternaria.

r adiocarbon d ates f or t he o ccupation o f J . I rish A rchaeol., 3 .

L ate Q uaternary i sostatic , 1 4: 6 5-83.

e ustatic a nd c limatic

M orrison , M . a nd S tephens , N . 1 965 . A s ubmerged l ate Q uaternary d eposit a t R addans P ort o n t he N orth E ast c oast o f I reland . P hil . T rans . R oy . S oc . L ondon. P rice ,

B . 2 49 : 2 21-255. R .J.

1 983.

S cotland 's E nvironment d uring t he l ast 3 0 ,000 y ears .

E dinburgh : S cottish A cademic P ress. R uddimah ,

W .F . ,

S ancetta ,

C .D .

a nd M acIntyre ,

A .

1 977 . G lacial/Interglacial

r esponse r ate o f s ubpolar N orth A tlantic w aters t o c limatic c hange : t he r ecord i n o cean s ediments. P hil. T rans. R oy. S oc. L ondon. B . 2 80 : 19-42. S charff, R .F . , S eymour , H .J . a nd N ewton , E .T . 1 918. C astlepook C ave , C ounty C ork. P roc. R oy. I rish A cad. S tuart, L ondon : S tuart ,

A .J.

1 982.

P leistocene V ertebrates i n t he B ritish I sles.

L ongman . AO .

f orthcoming .

P leistocene

m ammals

G lacial C olonisation O f I reland . e ds . P . S leeman , O cc. P ubl. J . I rish B iogeographical S oc. N o. 1 . W arren ,

T he e xploration o f 3 4B : 3 3-72.

W .P.

i nterglacial

1 979. d eposits .

S tratigraphic

I n T he P ost

R . D evoy a nd P . W oodman .

p osition a nd

G eol . S urv . I reland B ull .

5 3

i n I reland .

2 :

a ge

o f

3 15-332 .

t he

G ortian

W atts , W .A . 1 977 . R oy. S oc. L ondon.

T he L ate D evensian v egetation o f B . 2 80 : 2 73-283.

I reland .

P hil . T rans .

W atts , W .A . f orthcoming . O rigin o f t he I rish F lora a nd F auna . I n T he P ost G lacial C olonisation o f I reland . e ds . P . S leeman , R . D evoy a nd P . W oodman . O cc. P ubl. J . I rish B iogeographical S oc. N o. 1 . W oodman , P .C . 1 978 . T he M esolithic i n I reland . R eports. 5 8. O xford. W oodman , P .C . 1 981. 2 45 : 2 : 1 20132. W oodman ,

P .C .

A M esolithic c amp

1 981a .

B ritish A rchaeological

i n I reland .

S cientific A merican .

T he P ost G lacial c olonisation o f I reland .

A ntiquity , e d. D . 6 C orrgin.

I n I rish

C ork. 9 3111.

W oodman , P .C . 1 984 . T he e arly p rehistory o f M unster . a nd A rchaeol. S oc. 8 9 : 1 111.

J . C ork H istorical

Woodman , P .C. 1 985. S eeing i s B elieving : P roblems o f A rchaeological V isibility. U niversity C ollege C ork , I naugural L ecture S eries , N o. 2 . Woodman ,

P .C .

( ed .)

B elfast: H .M. .S.O.

f orthcoming .

E xcavations a t M ount S andel , 1 973-1977 .

N orthern I reland.

5 4

AF LINT A RTEFACT F RC t i T HE N ORTHERN N ORTH S EA D . L ong, C .R. W ickham-Jones a nd N .A . R uckley

I ntroduction A v ibrocore ( number 6 0+01/46) w as c ollected 1 50km n orth-east o f L erwick , a s p art o f t he B ritish G eological S urvey 's ( BGS) m arine s ampling p rogramme o n t he U K c ontinental s helf ( for m ethods s ee A rdus e t a l . 1 982) , a t 6 0 °4 2 .3 'N 1°4 0 .3 tE i n 1 43m o f w ater ( Fig . 1 3) . O n e xamination o f t he r ecovered c ore , a w orked f lint w as r ecognised a t 0 .28m b elow s eabed a nd s ubmitted t o t he A rtifact R esearch U nit a t t he N ational M useum o f A ntiquities o f S cotland , w ho c onfirmed t hat i t h ad b een a rtificially f laked . H ow s uch a n i mplement c ame t o b e i ncorporated i n t his s ediment i s o pen t o s peculation .

I t m ight ,

f or e xample , h ave b een l ost b y a s ea-going t raveller i n t he p ast . H owever , w e w ould l ike t o c onsider t he p ossibility t hat i t i s l ocally d erived f rom a s ite o f f ormer h uman h abitation , N orth S ea .

i n t he m iddle o f w hat i s n ow t he N orthern

T he a rtefact T he a rtefact ( Fig . 1 4) i s m ade o f a f ine , d ark g rey , p atinated f lint . I t i s 2 1mm l ong , 1 9nn n w ide a nd 8 mm t hick t he w eight b eing 2 .6g . I t i s a pparently f ormed u pon a n i nner f lake , a lthough t he e xtent o f s econdary w orking a nd d amage h as o bscured t he o riginal f lake o rientation . A long o ne s ide , a brupt e dge r etouch h as b een u sed t o f orm a s teep f ace ( edge a ngle 7 2 °) . A l ateral s car a long t he r ight s ide p rovides e vidence o f t runcation b y b reakage ; w hether p urposeful o r a ccidental i t i s i mpossible t o s ay ( Owen 1 982) . I t i s a lso d ifficult t o e stimate t he o riginal f lake s ize . O ther s igns o f d amage e xist a t e ither e nd o f t he r etouched f ace a s c onchoidal f racturing d own b oth d orsal a nd v entral s urfaces, which t runcates t he r etouch . O n t he v entral s urface , r emnants o f i nvasive r etouch s cars m ay i ndicate d eliberate t hinning , a lthough i t i s i mpossible t o d etermine t he t echnological h istory o f t he a rtefact i n g reater d etail. I t i s worth c onsidering w hether r e-use o f a f lake o r f ragment m ight h ave o ccurred i n t his

c ase .

I t i s c ertain , h owever t hat a s mall s craper e dge h as b een f ormed a nd , b earing t his i n m ind , t he f lint w as s ubmitted t o M s R . B radley f or m icrowear e xamination , u sing a L eitz E pivert m icroscope a t h igh m agnification t o c heck f or t he p resence o f p olishes r esulting f rom u se ( Keeley 1 980) . T he h eavy p atination o bscured m ost o f t he s urfaces b ut a n i ncrease i n p olish d ensity a nd s ome m icroscarring o n b oth d orsal a nd v entral s urfaces o pposite t he s craper e dge w ere o bserved . N o f unctional a ttributes c ould b e d educed b ut s uch w ear m ight b e a ssociated w ith t he h afting o f t he p iece . I n a ddition , t he s urvival o f a s mall a nd o bviously f ragile p rojection t owards t he c entre o f t he s craper f ace s eems l ikely

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a rtefact .

. .

G eology o f t he f ind-spot T he c ore s ample i n which t he f lint w as f ound ( Fig . 1 5) i s 1 .7m l ong a nd c omprises 5 0cm o f s lightly s ilty s and , o verlying a 1 0cm t hick h ash o f p ebbly m uddy s and w ith a bundant s hell f ragments a nd f requent whole s hells. B eneath t his i s 1 . 0m o f s oft , p lastic , s ilty c lay w ith o ccasional s mall c lasts a nd s hell f ragments . T he b asal 1 0cm c omprises p oorly s orted p ebbly s and . T he u pper 5 0cm i s a c over o f H olocene s ediments . T he b ase o f t he H olocene i s b elieved t o b e t he c haracteristic l ayer o f p ebbly m uddy s and w ith a bundant s hells a nd s hell f ragments . T his w idely d istributed l ayer h as b een s hown e lsewhere t o c ontain a b oreal f oraminiferal f auna , a lthough t he s hells a re p redominantly c old a rctic s pecies . I t i s b elieved t hat t his l ayer i s al ag d eposit c reated w hen t he s ea t ransgressed a nd s torms r eworked s ediments i n s hallow w aters ; i t a lso r epresents a t ransition f rom a rctic t o b oreal c onditions i n t his a rea b etween 1,250 a nd 1 0 ,300 y ears B P ( Rise & R okoengen 1 984) . T he o verlying s ilty s and w as d eposited b y r edistribution o f t he s eabed s ediments a nd c ontains f oraminifera i ndicative o f o ceanic w ater ( 100m d eep) . I t i s t hought t hat t he f lint , w hich w as f ound i n t hese s ands a t 2 8 c m d epth , h as b een r eworked f rom a n earby a rchaeological s ite o n l and e xposed p rior t o t he t ransgression , a nd s ubsequently i ncorporated i nto t he e arly H olocene s ediments . B eneath t he l ag , t he t wo s edimentary u nits r epresent t he l ower m ember o f t he V iking B ank F ormation a nd , a t t he b ottom o f t he c ore , t he C ape S hore F ormation ( Rise e t . a l . 1 984) . T he g eological h istory o f t he a rea h as b een i nterpreted f rom s eismic r ecords a nd a s eismostratigraphy h as b een i dentified ( ibid . ) . S amples f rom t he v arious f ormations h ave b een e xamined a nd h ave y ielded u seful e vidence c oncerning a ge a nd e nvironment o f d eposition . T he n ear s eabed g eology o f t he a rea i s s hown i n F ig . 1 6 ( from L ong , i n p ress) . T he F erder a nd C ape S hore F ormations a re g laciomarine s ediments , d eposited i n s hallow w ater p rior t o t he L ate W eichselian g lacial m aximum p robably i n c onditions s imilar t o t hose o ccurring i n a rctic C anada t oday . D uring t he g lacia l m aximum ( c . 1 8 ,000 y ear B P) , g laciomarine s edimentation w as r estricted t o t he d eeper w ater o f t he N orwegian T rench a nd N orwegian S ea .

S emi-buoyant g lacier i ce

f rom S candinavia o ccupied t he N orwegian T rench a nd f lowed n orth-westwards ( Rise & R okoengen 1 984) . I t w as g rounded i n t he w est , d epositing a t i ts m aximum a l ateral m oraine a long t he e dge o f t he N orth S ea P lateau , b ut w ith g laciomarine s edimentation o ccurring i n t he t rench . T o t he w est , i ce f rom S hetland d id n ot p enetrate b eyond 0° 3 0 ‚E ( Long & S kinner i n p ress) . S ea l evels a s l ow a s 1 80190m b elow t hose o f t he p resent h ave b een s uggested f or t his a rea a t 1 516 ,000 y ears B P ( Carlsen e t . a l . 1 984) . T his i mplies t hat l arge a reas o f t he s eabed w ould h ave b een e xposed a nd s ubjected t o p ermafrost a nd e rosion ,

a lthough r elative l evels w ould h ave b een d ifferent

t o

t o

t hose

o f

t oday

d ue

i sostatic

a nd

t ectonic

c hanges

e vident

i n

t his

a rea. A t a nd a fter t he g lacial m aximum , t he V iking B ank F ormation w as d eposited . T he l ower u nit c omprises d eltaic a nd p rodeltaic d eposits , f rom a r iver s ystem f lowing f rom t he B ergen a nd V iking B ank h ighs l ocated t o t he s outheast . T he u pper m ember o f t he V iking B ank F ormation c omprises s ilty s and o f l ittoral o r e ven a eolian o rigin a nd o ccurs o n t he h igher s eabed s urrounding t he l ower m ember . I t i s t hought t o h ave b een d eposited d uring r ising s ea l evels a nd a n a meliorating c limate . A s ea l evel s tand a t a bout 1 1,500 y ears B P was a n i mportant f eature i n t he r ise ,

when a wave-cut

p latform w as e roded t o t he n orth o f t he s ample a rea a nd t he V iking a nd B ergen B anks e xisted a s i slands ( Rise & R okoengen 1 984) . S ea l evel t hen r ose f airly r apidly ( -100m) b y 9 ,000 y ear B P ( Rokoengen e t . a l . 1 982) a nd

5 7

6 0+0 1 /4 6 V E 00

s l ight ly s i lty SAND

metres

F L INT

muddy p ebb ly SAND w ith a bundant s he l ls a nd s he l l f ragments

0 . 5

b e low

l ower member o f V ik ing Bank

s oft s i lty CLAY

F ormat ion

1 s eabed

. • • • •• . . •

F ig . 1 5 .

L ithological

p ebb ly SAND

.•

l og o f v ibrocore 6 0+01/46 ,

Cape Shore F ormat ion

s howing p osition o f t he

f lint. 1 °E

2 °E

1 . 40 '

1 ° 20 '

6 09 ( 7N--

6 0 ° 1 .0 'N . • .•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•

• • • : •

• • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • : • . . • . • : • : • : • : • : • : • • • •

6 0°30 'N--

-

_

F e r d e r

F o rma t ion

F ig . 1 6 . L ong ,

C ape S ho re F o rma t ion

V i k ing B ank F o rma t ion

L ove rm embe ro f V i k ing B ank F o rma t ion

.

N ear s eabed g eological m ap o f t he v icinity o f s ite 6 0+01/46 ( from

i n p ress) .

5 8

t here w as l ittle s ubsequent n et d eposition t hough s ome r eworking o f t he n ear s eabed o ccurred .

G eography o f t he N orth S ea a rea d uring t he l ast g lacial p eriod O n aw ider s cale , r ecent r esearch i n m any c entres h as s uggested t hat l ow s ea l evels d uring t he Q uaternary p eriod p ermitted l arge a reas o f t he N orth S ea t o b e e xposed a nd t hat i n t he W eichselian a t l east , g laciers d id n ot e xtend o ut t o t he c ontinental s helf e dge . F igure 1 7 i s a s ynopsis o f v arious r esearch , i ndicating g lacial i ce l imits a nd t he e xtent o f t he s ea a t t he W eichselian g lacial m aximum ( Jansen e t . a l . 1 979 , S ejrup e t. a l . 1 984 , S utherland 1 984 a nd u npublished B GS d ata) . T he a ctual g lacial a nd s hore l imits a t t he W eichselian m aximum a re o pen t o q uestion a nd m aximum i ce l imits a nd m inimum w ater l evels a re l ikely t o h ave o ccurred a t d ifferent t imes t hroughout t he N orth S ea . J ansen ( 1976) s uggested s ea l evels o f a bout 1 09114m b elow t he p resent f or t he i nland s ea i n t he c entral N orth S ea , w hich i s t hought t o h ave f lowed o ut u nder t he i ce o ccupying t he N orwegian T rench . S hore l ines w ere t entatively r econstr tcted b y S issons ( 198 1) , w ho e xtrapolated t he l owest r aised s hore l ines o f e astern S cotland o ffshore t o i ntersect t he s eabed , a lthough h e r ecognised t hat h is s traight e xtrapolation w ould n eed a djustment t o t he e ast d ue t o t he g reater i sostatic e ffect o f t he S candinavian I ce-cap . F urthermore , E den e t. a l . ( 1978) p ostulated t hat g lacier f ore-bulge c aused u plift i n t he N orth S ea a nd t his would h ave i ncreased t he a rea o f s eabed e mergence . A s c ommercial e xploration i n t he N orth S ea h as d eveloped , t he c ollected d ata h ave s uggested l imited g lacier c over i n t he W eichselian a nd t hat t he p resent d ay s eabed w as o nce l and a ffected b y d esiccation a nd p ermafrost , a nd t raversed b y r ivers f lowing f rom t he N orth E uropean P lain .

D iscussion A lthough t he a ctual g lacial a nd s hore l imits a re u ncertain , e vidence i ncreasingly s upports t he c oncept o f m ajor l and e xposure b eyond t he i ce-cap e dge . T his i mplies t he e xistence o f a l arge l and m ass f or p ossible h uman h abitation , b efore a r etreat t o h igher l and b ecame n ecessary a s s ea l evel r ose o ver a p eriod o f s everal t housand y ears . B road s peculation b ased u pon as ingle , b roken , l ithic a rtefact m ay b e u nwise , b ut t he p ossibility c learly e xists t hat t he a rtefact h ere i llustrated r epresents t he f irst l ocal e vidence o f s ettlement o f t his a rea . A t t he g lacial m aximum c onditions would h ave b een h arsh , b ut a s t he c limate i mproved t he l and w ould f or s omewhile h ave r emained a vailable f or h abitation , a nd t he a bundant r esources o f s uch c oastal a reas a re w ell d ocumented ( Binford , 1 978 ; C larke 1 978) . L ooking f or w idespread p arallels o f a rtefact f orm t hroughout e arlier p rehistory i s o f d ubious v alue, e specially when d ealing w ith a d amaged p iece . H owever , a lthough t hey a re n ot c ommon a mongst U pper P alaeolithic i ndustries , s uch s crapers d o o ccur o n av ariety o f s ites ( Bordes 1 981; M adsen 1 983) . I n a ddition , t he e vidence f or m arine t ransgression b y 9 000 y ears B P

d efines

t he m inimum

a ge

o f a ny

a rchaeological

s ite

i n t he a rea .

F urther r esearch s hould p rovide a m ore d etailed k nowledge o f t he c limate a nd c onditions t hat w ould h ave b een a vailable f or h uman s ettlement i n t hese a reas . D etailed e xamination o f n ew c ore m aterial m ight r eveal f urther f ragments

o f

f lint

f rom w hich d irect e vidence

i nferred.

5 9

f or h uman a ctivity

m ay b e

Sea

G lac ier i ce l im it

F ig . 1 7 .

M ap

s howing

p robable

g lacier

W eichselian g lacial m aximum .

6 0

i ce

l imits

a nd

s ea

l evel a t

t he

A cknowledgement s T he a uthor w ould l ike t o t hank D r . R . O wens ,

w ho f irst d escribed t he c ore .

M r . G .H . C ollins f irst m entioned t he A rtifact R esearch U nit f acilities w hich a re k indly p rovided b y t he N ational Museum o f A ntiquities o f S cotland . T hanks a re a lso d ue t o M s . R . B radley f or t he m icrowear e xamination a nd t o M s . M . O 'Neil w ho i llustrated t he a rtefact . F inally , w e s hould a cknowledge D r .

J .

B .

C ampbell ,

w hose e nthusiasm a nd d iscussion p rovided t he

s timulus

f or t he p roduction o f t his p aper . T his p aper i s p ublished with t he a pproval o f t he D irector , B ritish G eological S urvey , ( NERC) .

R eferences A rdus , D .A . , S kinner .

A .C . , R . a nd P heasant , J .B. 1 982.

I mproved c oring

t echniques a nd o ffshore l aboratory p rocedures i n s ampling a nd s hallow d rilling. B inford , B ordes ,

P roc. O ceanology I nternat. L .R .

1 978 .

F .

N unamiut E thnoarchaeology .

1 981.

Q uaternaire

1 982, B righton . N ew Y ork :

A cademic P ress .

T ypologie d u P a Molithique A ncien e t M oyen .

1 ) .

2 v ols.

B ordeaux :

( Cahiers

d u

C entre N ationale d e l a R echerche

S cientifique. C arlsen ,

R"

L i 6ken ,

T .

&R oaldset ,

a nd s tratigraphical e xaminations N orthern N orth S ea , I .

a nd

S ejrup ,

B lock

H .P.

C larke , d e

D .

G .

1 978 .

1 984 .

I .H.

R .A . ,

H olmes ,

c entral N orth S ea , d eposits

o f

t he

R . 6 .

2° 1 5 'E

s edimentological

s ediments

( Abstract) .

f rom t he

I n A arseth ,

B ergen .

M esolithic E urope :

Longworth,

G eotechnical ,

Q uaternary S tratigraphy o f t he N orth S ea .

D ec .

and

E conomic a nd S ocial A rchaeology , E den ,

1 984 .

l ate Q uaternary

34 /10 ( 61 ° 1 0 'N

( eds.) .

S ymposium U niv . o f B ergen ,

E . o f

t he

e conomic b asis .

Wilson,

K .E.

p p . 4 49-482 .

a nd F annin ,

N .G .T .

L ondon :

1 978 .

I n S ieveking ,

( eds.),

G .

Problems

i n

D uckworth .

Q uaternary d eposits o f

t he

D epositional e nvironment o f o ffshore Q uaternary

c ontinental

s helf

a round S cotland .

R ep . I nst . G eol . S ci .

N o. 77 /15 . J ansen ,

J .H .F .

1 976 .

n orthern N orth S ea , R es. 1 0 : J ansen ,

L ate

P leistocene

b ased o n a coustic

a nd H olocene

h istory

r eflection r ecords .

o f

t he

N eth . J . S ea

1 -43. J .H .F . , v an W eering , T .C.E. a nd E isma ,

D . 1 979.

L ate Q uaternary

s edimentation i n t he N orth S ea . I n O ele , E . , S chuttenhelm , R .T .E. a nd Wiggers, A .J. ( eds.) . T he Q uaternary h istory o f t he N orth S ea ( Acta U niv . U ps .

S ymp .

U niv .

U ps .

A nnum Q uingentesimum C elebrantis ,

2 ) ,

p p .

1 75-187 .

U ppsala. K eeley,

L .H .

1 980 .

m icrowear a nalysis. L ong,

D .

I n p ress .

Q uaternary g eology .

E xperimental d etermination o f s tone t ool u ses:

a

C hicago : U niversity o f C hicago P ress. H alibut

B ank,

B ritish G eological

6 1

S heet 6 0 °N -0 °, 1 : 2 50 ,000 s eries , S urvey .

L ong , D . a nd S kinner , A .C . I n p ress. n orthern i sles o f S hetland : ac omment.

G lacial m eltwater c hannels i n t he S cott. J . G eol. 2 1.

Madsen , B . 1 983 . N ew e vidence o f l ate p alaeolithic s ettlement i n E ast J utland. J . D anish A rchaeol. 2 : 1 2-31. Owen , L .

1 982 .

A n a nalysis o f e xperimental b reaks o n f lint b lades a nd

f lakes. I n C ahen, D . ( ed.), Tailer! p our q uoi f aire ( Studia P raehistorica B elgica , 2 ) , p p . 7 7-87 . T ervuren : M usge R oyal d e l 'Afrique C entrale. R ise , L . a nd R okoengen , K .

1 984 .

S urficial s ediments i n t he N orwegian

s ector o f t he N orth S ea b etween 6 0 °3 0' a nd 6 2 °N . R ise ,

L . ,

N ords' .

R okoengen ,

K . ,

K vartaergeologisk

S kinner , k art

A .C .

M ar. G eol. 5 8 : 2 87-317.

a nd L ong ,

D .

m ellom 6 0 °3 0 ' o g 6 2 °N ,

1 984 .

N ordlige

o g i st f or

1°O .

( Northern N orth S ea . Q uaternary g eology m ap b etween 6 0 °3 0 1/ s T , a nd e ast o f 1°E ) . M . 1 : 5 00 ,000 . I nstitutt f or K ontinentalsokkelundersikelsar ( I FT) N orway. R okoengen , K . , L ofaldli , M . , R ise , L . , L iken , T . a nd C arlsen , R . 1 982 . D escription a nd d ating o f a s ubmerged b each i n t he n orthern N orth S ea . M ar . G eol . 5 0 : M 21-M28 . S ejrup , H .P . , A arseth , I . , B jirkland , K . , B righam-Grette , J . , E llingsen , K .L . , J ansen , E . , L arsen , E . , R either , E . a nd S toker , M .S . 1 984 . Q uaternary s tratigraphy o f t he B osies B ank - S leipner a rea , S ea , ( Abstract) . I n A arseth , S tratigraphy o f t he N orth S ea .

I .

N orthern N orth

a nd S ejrup , H .P . ( eds.) , Q uaternary S ymposium U niv . o f B ergen . D ec . 1 984 .

B ergen . S issons ,

J .B .

d iscussion .

1 981. B oreas.

T he 1 0 :

l ast S cottish i ce-sheet :

f acts a nd s peculative

1 :17.

_ Sutherland , D .C . 1 984 . T he Q uaternary d eposits a nd l andforms o f S cotland a nd t he n eighbouring s helves: a r eview. Q uatern . S ci. R ev . 3 : 1 57-254.

6 2

M AN I N B RITAIN I N T HE L ATE D EVKNSIAN :

E VIDENCE F ROM O SSOM 'S C AVE

K atharine S cott

I ntroduction D uring t he D evensian ,

m an p resumably c ame t o B ritain l argely a s a h unter ,

b ut w e k now l ittle o f h is p roficiency i n t his f ield b ecause f inds

o f

a ssociated a rtefacts a nd b ones i n p rimary c ontext a re v ery r are . T his p aper l ooks a t t he e vidence f or h unting i n B ritain'in t he p eriod f rom t he e nd o f t he D evensian g lacial m aximum u ntil t he b eginning o f t he p ost-glacial ( c . 1 5 ,000 - 1 0 ,000 B .P .) . I n f act , f rom t he p oint o f v iew o f h uman p resence i n B ritain , t he t ime-span u nder c onsideration i s p robably m uch s horter . I n a r eview o f t he c hronological a nd a rchaeological d ata , J acobi ( 1981) a rgues t hat t here i s n o c onvincing e vidence t hat p eople r eturned t o B ritain a fter t he g lacial m aximum u ntil s ometime b etween 1 3 ,500 a nd 1 2 ,000 B .P . E ven t hen , a nd f or t he r est o f t he l ate g lacial , b y w hich t ime h uman t echnological , a rtistic a nd h unting s kills a re m uch i n e vidence a t h undreds o f s ites i n n orth-west E urope , t here i s c omparatively l ittle k nown a bout l ife i n B ritain . T he d istribution m ap ( Figure 1 8) , s howing a lmost 7 0 s ites i n B ritain f rom w hich a rtefacts o f L ate D evensian a ge h ave b een r ecovered , m ight s uggest o therwise , b ut a c loser e xamination o f t he e vidence r eveals t hat t he a rchaeological r ecord i s i n f act v ery p oor i ndeed . T he r easons f or t his a re s everal a nd m ay b e a ttributed t o a c ombination o f n atural a nd h istoric f actors .

A lmost h alf t he l ocations s hown i n F igure

1 8 a re o pen s ites . T he a rtefacts r ecovered f rom m ost o f t hese a re l acking c ontextual i nformation a nd r arely h ave a ssociated f aunal r emains s urvived . T he c aves , o n t he o ther h and , o ffer t he p ossibility o f f inding w ellp reserved b ones i n s tratified c ontext . T hey a re o f l imestone a nd , c onsequently b one p reservation i s g enerally e xcellent .

H owever ,

t hey a re

r arely v ery l arge a nd , i n m ost c ases , t here i s i nsufficient s pace f or e ven a s mall g roup o f h umans . I t i s t hus l ikely t hat m ost o f t hem w ere s uitable o nly a s s hort-term s helters f or p alaeolithic p eople , w hich p robably a ccounts f or t he f act t hat c omparatively f ew a rtefacts a nd a ssociated b ones h ave b een f ound i n t hem . T he l arger c aves , s uch a s W ookey H ole C ave , K ing A rthur 's C ave a nd C ough 's C ave , w ould e asily h ave a ccommodated a g roup o f h unterg atherers a nd t hey h ave i ndeed p roduced l arge q uantities o f p alaeolithic m aterial b ut , a t t his s tage , i t i s o f l ittle u se t o o ur u nderstanding o f l ife i n t he L ate D evensian . F or m ore t han a h undred y ears , a rchaeologists a nd t reasure h unters h ave e xplored t hese c aves w ith t he r esult t hat t he l arger o nes h ave l ong s ince b een c leaned o ut . D ocumentation w as g enerally v ery p oor b y m odern s tandards a nd b efore t he i mportance o f e xamining s oc alled ' undiagnostic ' l ithic a nd f aunal r emains was r ealized , l arge q uantities o f e xcavated m aterial w ere d iscarded . M uch o f t hat w hich w as k ept h as s uffered i n t he c ourse o f t ime : m aterial h as b een m oved a nd i ts p rovenience l ost , c ollections h ave b een d ivided a nd o ften p oorly c urated , a nd s ome w ere d estroyed d uring t he b ombing r aids o f t he l ast w ar . T able 1 p resents a s ummary o f d ata c ompiled f or t hose c ave s ites f rom which L ate U pper P alaeolithic a rtefacts h ave b een r ecovered . M y p articular i nterest h ere w as i n t he s tate o f p reservation a nd q uantity o f t he f aunal

6 3

T able 1 .

C aves i n B ritain w ith a rtefacts o f L ate U pper P alaeolithic t ype

S ite

A rtefact t ypes ( see k ey b elow)

R adiocarbon d ates ( all d ates a re g iven i n y rs. B .P.)

R eliability o f a ssociation

S tatus o f L ate D evensian f auna

o f d ated m aterial a nd a rtefacts

P EAK D ISTRICT , D ERBYSHIRE / STAFFORDSHIRE O ssca 's C ave

F

P P

(n-7400 : 1 0 ,590+70 B M-2127 : 1,930+N 10 O xA-361: 1 0 ,780 i60 O xA-632: 1 0 ,600;71 40

D owel C ave F ox H ole E lder B ush C ave

F

g ood g ood

( c omplete a ssemblage o f b ones ( a nd a ssociated a rtefacts

g ood g ood f ew b ones , p robably h uman r efuse f ew b ones , p robably h uman r efuse

P P

f ew b ones , p robably h uman r efuse

M ENDIP R EGION , S OMERSET S um H ole C ave

F

C P

B M-524 : 1 2,378+ 150 ( poor B irm-821: 1 0 ,470+ 190 ( no B irm-820 : 1 0 ,286;N °0 ( association B irm-8 19 : 1 0 ,110; i60 (

( v ery s mall a ssemblage ( h uman a ssociation ( n ot ( e vident

H utton C ave B anwell C aves A veline's H ole C ough's ( new) C ave

F lint J acks C ave S oldier 's H ole G reat O one's H ole D EVONSHIRE K ent's C avern

F F

F F

F

C P C P

P P P P

B M-2183 :

1 2,120+ 120

g ood

B M-2184 :

1 2,026;420

g ood

B M-2185 : 1,976;230

g ood

B M-2186 : 1 2,246; 220 B M-2187 : 1 2,0764170

g ood g ood

B M-2188 : 1 2 ,166 210

g ood

b ones p oorly s tratified m ost l ost W W I g ood s ample o f b ones w ith c ut-marks s urvives b ut n ot a ll e xcavated m aterial w as k ept

C P C P

f auna l ost h uman a ssociation n ot e vident f auna l ost

C P

G rN6204: 1 2,180+ 100 G rN6203 : 1 4,27ST 120

u ncertain u ncertain

s tratigraphic c ontrol v ery p oor

T ornewton C ave

h uman a ssociation n ot e vident ; p oorly s tratified f auna

T hree B oles C ave

d ocumentation p oor h uman a ssociation n ot e vident p rivate c ollection , n ot s een

P ixies' H ole T ramp 's C ave S OUTH W ALES M anna 's C ave

F

C P

F F F

C P C P C P

P otter 's C ave O gof Y r Y chen C athole C ave P aviland H oyle's M outh L ittle H oyle P riory F arm C ave W YE V ALLEY K ing A rthur's C ave

F

C P

P P P P

( g ood f auna b ut

P P

( u nprovenanced u nstratified u nstratified u nstratified v ery s mall f auna , h uman a ssociation u ncertain

P P P P P P P P

n o k nown f auna

P P

b ones p robably h uman r efuse b ut n ot a ll m aterial w as k ept

L ANCASHIRE/WESTERN Y ORKSHIRE K irkhead C ave V ictoria C ave

( L ate D evensian a rchaeological ( m aterial m ixed W ith

J ubilee C ave

( p ostglacial f auna

C RESWELL R EGION , S . Y ORKSHIRE/N/N)TTINGHAMSHIRE R obin H ood's C ave F C P P P B M-603 : 1 0,390+90 B M-604: 1 0 ,590 90 A nston S tone's C ave

F

C hurch H ole L ob W ells S helter

F

P in H ole C ave

F

M other G rundy's P arlour

F

B M-440B : 9 ,750 110 B 1-439: 9 ,5004115 B M-440A : 9 ,94ö+ 115

u ncertain u ncertain u ncertain u ncertain u ncertain

s mall, p oorly r ecorded a ssemblage w ith c ut b ones ) ) )

f ragmentary, v ery s mall a ssemblage b ut p robably o f h uman o rigin v ery s mall a ssemblage

P P

n o D evensian s pecies f ound

C P

P P

s ome b ones h ave c ut-marks b ut

C P

P P

F

-F edermesser- t ype a rtefacts

C P

-" Cheddar P oints"

P P

-P enknife P oints

Q 1459:

1,160+ 170

u ncertain

Q 1483: Q 1484:

1,285; 180 1,32 ( 230

u ncertain u ncertain

I nformation o n a rtefact t ypes f rom J acobi ( 198C, 1 981). I nformation o n f auna : A uthor 's o bservations ; C ollcutt e t a l. 1 981;

r aptorial b irds a nd s mall c arnivores m uch i n e vidence v ery s mall s ample s urvives, L UP a rtefacts m ixed w ith o lder f auna

J enkinson 1 984.

( also A . C urrant, R .D.S. J enkinson a nd R .M. J acobi p ers. c omm) D ates c ompiled f rom R adiocarbon ;

M ellars ( 1969); C ampbell ( 1977);

B urleigh e t a l. ( 1985) a nd G owlett e t a l. ( 1986).

J acobi ( 1980, 1 981);

2

4 • 5 . 6 740 l t iN eo 8 0 9 1 2% 1 1 3

0 00

0

1 4 •

1 5 1 6 1 8 *19 " 2 0 2 1

17

0

2 2

2 , 4 , 25 4 )SD 2 3 9,L- 2 7 29 4 ;7 4

3 0

3 2,

0

2 8

0

3 1

3 3 114

3 5

-3 6

F ig. 1 8.

•

c aves

o

o pen s i tes

D istribution o f B ritish c ave a nd o pen s ites w here a rtefacts o f L ate U pper P alaeolithic t ype h ave b een f ound ( data f rom J acobi 1 980 , 1 981). 1 .

K irkhead C ave

1 9.

O gof Y r Y chen

2 . 3 . 4 . 5 . 6 . 7 . 8 . 9 .

K insey C ave V ictoria C ave A nston S tones C ave L ob W ells S helter M other G rundy's P arlour R obin H ood 's C ave P in H ole C ave C hurch H ole C ave

2 0. 2 1. 2 2. 2 3 . 2 4. 2 5. 2 6. 2 7.

P otter's C ave P aviland C athole C ave B anwell C aves H utton C ave A veline's H ole S un H ole C ave S oldier 's H ole

2 8. 2 9 . 3 0. 3 1.

G reat ° one 's H ole G ough 's ( New) C ave F lint J ack's C ave T ramp 's C ave

3 2. 3 3. 3 4. 3 5. 3 6.

P ixie's H ole T hree H oles C ave T orbryan C ave T ornewton C ave K ent's C avern

1 0 . D owel C ave 1. F ox H ole C ave 1 2. O ssom 's C ave 1 3 . E lder B ush C ave 1 4. K ing A rthur's C ave 1 5 . H oyle 's M outh 1 6. L ittle H oyle 1 7. P riory F arm C ave 1 8. N anna 's C ave

6 5

r emains b elieved t o b e a ssociated w ith t he a rtefacts . u nderstanding h uman s ubsistence , t he p icture t hat e merged e ncouraging .

I n t erms o f w as f ar f rom

N early a ll t he f aunal a ssemblages w ere f ound t o b e v ery s mall ,

u nprovenanced , o r i ncomplete . I t w as t herefore w ith g reat e nthusiasm t hat I u ndertook t he a nalysis o f t he f aunal r emains f rom O ssom 's C ave i n t he S taffordshire P eak D istrict . T his l ittle k nown s ite w as e xcavated w ith m eticulous c are a lmost 3 0 y ears a go b y M r . D . B ramwell a nd a t eam f rom t he P eakland A rchaeological S ociety . O f t he s everal h orizons t hat w ere r ecognized , t he o ne o f p articular i nterest h ere i s a l evel i n w hich t here w ere n umerous r emains o f r eindeer a ssociated w ith a rtefacts . R adiocarbon d ates c onfirm a L ate D evensian a ge f or t his m aterial . N ot o nly i s i t r are i n B ritain t o h ave s uch a w ell -d ocumented , s tratified l ate g lacial f auna a ssociated w ith a rtefacts , b ut a s t he c ave w as c ompletely e xcavated , e very b one f ragment was k ept , a nd i ts l ocation w ithin t he c ave k nown , i t i s p ossible t o c omment o n t he s patial d istribution o f t he m aterial a nd , a s w e s hall s ee , o n a spects o f t he b utchery o f t he r eindeer c arcasses . F urthermore , t he p resence o f a n umber o f c omplete d entitions o f y oung r eindeer h as m ade i t p ossible t o d etermine t he s eason o f t he y ear a t w hich t he h unters o f t he r eindeer w ere i n t his p art o f c entral B ritain . T he e xcavation o f O ssom 's C ave i s o utlined b elow a nd t he r eindeer r emains s ummarized , b ut t he m ain f ocus o f t his p aper w ill b e o n t he s easonal d ata f rom t he s ite a nd t he q uestion o f s easonal m obility i n t he p alaeolithic .

D iscovery , e xcavation a nd s tratigraphy o f O sso nes C ave O ssom's C ave i s s ituated o n t he western s lope o f t he Manifold V alley a pproximately 2 7m a bove t he M anifold R iver ( Figure 1 9 a nd P late 1 ) . U ntil 1 954 , o nly a s mall a rch g iving a ccess t o a b adger s ett w as v isible a t t he j unction o f t he l imestone c liff a nd t he o vergrown t alus s lope , a nd t here h ad b een n o s erious a ttempt t o e xcavate t he s ite . I n f act , i t w as n ot u ntil t he O rpheus C aving C lub o f D erby o pened u p t he e ntrance i n a n a ttempt t o f ind p ossible c hannels l eading t o c hambers b elow t he M anifold R iver , t hat t he a rchaeological s ignificance o f t he s ite w as r ealized.

b y

B ones r ecovered i n p reliminary c learance b y t he 0 .C .C . w ere i dentified D . B ramwell ( Peakland A rchaeological S ociety) a nd J .W . J ackson

( Manchester M useum) a s t hose o f d omestic a nimals , t ogether w ith t hose o f r ed d eer , b adger , a nd f ox . P ot s herds a nd o ther d ebris o f R omano-British a nd l ater o rigin were a lso f ound . O f g reatest i nterest , h owever , was a n a stragalus o f a r eindeer , which s uggested t he e xistence o f a P leistocene c old s tage d eposit w ithin t he c ave . A t t his p oint, t he 0 .C .C . a greed t o d iscontinue e xploration a nd t he s ite was e xcavated b y m embers o f t he P eakland A rchaeological S ociety b etween 1 954 a nd 1 956 u nder t he d irection o f M r. D . B ramwell ( Bramwell 1 954 , 1 955 , 1 956). T hese e xcavations p roved v ery s uccessful .

N ot o nly w ere m any m ore

r eindeer r emains d iscovered i n s itu b elow t he e vidently p ostglacial d eposits , b ut t here w ere a lso t he r emains o f s mall v ertebrates a s w ell a s a rtefacts a nd c harcoal . B elow t he h orizon w ith t he a bundant r eindeer r emains , t here w ere o ther l evels c ontaining s mall q uantities o f f auna a nd c harcoal . T here a re n o l ithic a rtefacts f rom t hese l ower l evels , b ut t here i s o ne b one t hat h as b een h umanly m odified . I t i s o n B ramwell 's p ublished r eports a nd f rom h is e xcavation d iary t hat

6 6

We t ton M i l l c aves

OSSO M 'S CAVE

I

F ig . 1 9.

Map

S taffordshire .

o f

E ngland

W

s howing

l ocation

o f

Manifold V alley ,

M ap B s hows t he t opography i n t he r egion o f O ssom 's C ave .

C ontours a re a t 5 0ft i ntervals ;

h eights a bove m ean s ea l evel a re g iven i n

f eet.

6 7

T ho r 's C ave Cave

P late 1 .

O ssom 's C ave .

T he b ridge i n t he c entre f oreground c rosses t he

M anifold R iver .

6 8

t he f ollowing s ummary o f t he e xcavation a nd

s tratigraphy i s b ased . A

c omplete r eport o n t he s ite i s c urrently b eing c ompiled i n p rep) . T he

c ave

a nd p latform w ere d ivided

( see F igure 2 0) .

E xcavations

i nto 3 ft

c ommenced a bout

( Bramwell e t . a l"

( . 91m)

2 1ft

t ransverse s ectors

( 6 .4m )

i n f ront

o f

t he

c ave e ntrance a nd c ontinued 1 5ft ( 4.6m) i nto i t , b eyond which t here was n either d aylight n or e vidence o f h uman o ccupation . A s c an b e s een f rom F igure 2 0 , t he c ave i s v ery n arrow ( about 6 ft/1.85m a t t he e ntrance) . H owever , m uch o f t he s tratified d eposit f ormed a s mall p latform o utside t he c ave a nd q uantities o f l imestone h ad t o b e r emoved f rom t his a rea b efore a nd d uring e xcavation , w hich B ramwell c onsidered t o b e i ndicative t hat t he e xtent o f t he c ave h ad b een g reater a t o ne t ime . A rchaeological m aterial w as n ot f ound i n s itu o utside t he c ave b eyond a bout 9 ft ( 2 . .7m ) i n f ront o f t he e ntrance . T he s tratigraphic s equence ( see F igure 2 1) w as a s f ollows : L ayer A c ontained a q uantity o f p ost-glacial v ertebrate r emains ( mainly d omestic s pecies) a nd v arious d ebris . L ayer B w as s terile e xcept f or a p ot-sherd , al arge r ib a nd a n umber o f s mall v ertebrate b ones. L ayer

C w as

a b reccia o f

l oose ,

s harply a ngular

l imestone f ragments .

T he t op o f t his l evel w as c haracterized b y a bundant a mphibian ( frog) b ones a nd t he d eposits were c emented w ith s talagmite i n t he a rea o f t he c ave e ntrance . F urther i nto t he c ave , t he b reccia t hinned o ut a nd t he d eposit c onsisted o f y ellowish c lay . F ew b one f ragments w ere f ound i n t he f irst f ew c entimetres b elow t he l evel o f t he a mphibian b ones . A t a bout . 15m b elow t he t op o f L ayer C , a g reat m any r eindeer b ones o ccurred . T his c oncentration was n o m ore t han 1 5cms t hick a nd e xtended f rom S ector 2 o utside t he c ave b ack t o S ector 8 , where t he c ave b ecomes v ery n arrow. C harcoal a nd a rtefacts w ere f ound a ssociated w ith t he r eindeer r emains , a nd t here were a lso s mall v ertebrate a nd b ird b ones i n t he d eposit .

T he

s urfaces o f an umber o f t he b ones h ad b een d amaged b y r oot a ction a nd a f ew h ave b een g nawed b y s mall r odents , b ut t here a re n o t ooth-marks t o i ndicate t hat a l arge p redator s uch a s w olf m ight h ave a ccumulated t he b ones r ather t han m an . Ih ave d escribed d ifferences i n t he c ondition o f t he O ssom 's C ave r eindeer b ones a nd b ones f rom h yaena a nd w olf d ens i n m y d octoral d issertation

( Scott

T he a rtefacts

1 985) . f rom L ayer C h ave b een l ooked a t b y D r . R .M .

J acobi

( University o f L ancaster) . A r eport o n t hese w ill a ppear i n t he p ublication o n t he s ite ( Bramwell e t. a l . i n p rep .) , b ut h e h as k indly s upplied m e w ith t he f ollowing o bservations o n t he l ithic a ssemblage : T here a re 4 1 p ieces o f c hipped f lint a nd 2 o f c hert .

O f t hese , o nly 5

f lint a nd o ne c hert a rtefacts h ad b een r etouched . T here i s t he b roken ' base ' o f a b acked b ladelet o r p oint , a b urin a nd a b roken b urin , t he l atter m ade o f c hert , ac ore o r b urin , a b roken p iece o f f lint w ith r etouch a t i ts d istal e nd , a nd a b acked p iece w ith r etouch d own t he whole o f o ne e dge ( 39mm) . T his p iece J acobi c lassifies e ither a s a T jonger p oint o r a s a n ' elementary ' A zilian p oint . O f t he 3 7 u nretouched p ieces , 1 9 a re a nciently b roken a nd n o t wo p ieces c an b e j oined .

W ith r egard t o t he ' missing '

c orresponding p ieces , J acobi c omments : ' I f n ot l ost b y n atural a gencies f rom t he f ront o f t he c ave , o r l eft u nexcavated , i t h as t o b e a ssumed t hat m uch o f t he r eduction s equence t ook p lace o utside t he c ave a nd q uite p ossibly a t a s pot,

o r

s pots,

well

away

f rom

6 9

i t'.

T he

f lint

i s

h eavily

7 0 RE INDEER

HOR IZON

u nexcavated

\w

t t

•

C U

( r )

7 1

\ \

I

L ongitudinal

d is turbed

u nexcavated

0 3 !

( \ I

c o e t

[ I C

p atinated/corticated a nd , a s a r esult , e xpected o n a ny o f t he a rtefacts .

m icroscopic w ear t races c annot b e

T he a ge o f t he L ayer C m aterial i s s lightly p roblematic a t p resent . T here a re s everal r adiocarbon d ates o n b ones f rom L ayer C ( Table 1 ) . T he f irst d etermination ( c . 1 0 ,590 B .P .) s uggested t hat t he r eindeer r emains w ere a ccumulated d uring p ollen z one I II o f t he L ate D evensian , u nder t he e xtremely c old c limatic c onditions o f t he L och L omond S tadial (74> 2 2) . A s t his d ate w as o btained o n ac ombined s ample o f f ragments o f r eindeer a ntler , f urther s amples h ave b een p rocessed . A s econd r adiocarbon d ate o f c . 1 1,930 B .P . , o n al imb-bone f ragment ( thought t o b e t hat o f a r eindeer) , s uggested t hat i n f act t he r eindeer a nd t heir h unters w ere i n t he v icinity o f t he s ite d uring t he m ilder c limatic c onditions o f t he W indermere I nterstadial I n h is

( pollen z one I I) .

c omments

o n t he s mall v ertebrates

f rom L ayer C ,

S tuart

( 1983)

n otes t hat , i n a ddition t o s uch a ' cold ' s pecies a s t he a rctic l emming D icrostonyx t orquatus, water v ole A rvicola t errestris a nd f ield v ole M icrotus a gretis

( neither o f w hich i s a n a rctic s pecies) a re p resent .

I n

a ddition , t here i s t he b ank v ole C lethrionomys g lareolus , w hich i s a bsent f rom t he e ntire t undra a nd n orthern S candinavia . I t c haracteristically o ccurs w here t here i s a s hrub l ayer , i .e . m ainly i n w oodland , a nd i s a g ood i ndicator o f n on-arctic c onditions . T his would s uggest t hat a L ate D evensian ( zone I I) i nterstadial d ate i s t he m ore l ikely ( AO . S tuart , p ers . c omm .). T he a rtefacts a re o f l ittle h elp w ith r egard t o t he a ge o f L ayer C . R oger J acobi ( pers . c omm .) s uggests t hat t he T jonger p oint c ould h ave b een d iscarded a t a t ime a s e arly a s c . 1 2 ,000 B .P . , i n v iew o f i ts s imilarity t o m aterial f rom C ough 's C ave w ith a ssociated d ates o f c . 1 2 ,000 B .P . , d imensions o f t he o ther b acked p iece more c losely c omparable i tems o f e arly p ost-Pleistocene a ge. H owever ,

c orroborative

b ut t he

r esemble t hose o f

e vidence f or t he p ollen z one I II o ccupation o f

O ssom 's C ave c omes f rom t he m ost r ecent r adiocarbon d eterminations t hat h ave b een o btained o n t wo i mportant s pecimens f rom L ayer C . T he m andible o f a y oung r eindeer h as b een d ated t o c . 1 0 .780 B .P . a nd a n a ntler ( the s o-called ' 1st y ear s pike ') o f a y oung r eindeer h as b een d ated t o c . 1 0 ,600 B .P . B oth m andible a nd a ntler a re b elieved t o h ave b elonged t o a nimals t hat w ere k illed i n t he S pring . T his a nd o ther s easonal e vidence i s d iscussed l ater i n t his p aper. A f ew c entimetres b elow t he r eindeer a ssemblage , t he s tony d eposit o f L ayer C g ave w ay t o t he s andy r ed c lay o f L ayer D . A f ox m andible a nd t wo r ed d eer b ones w ere f ound i n L ayer D a s w ell a s t he h umerus o f al arge b ovid ( cf . b ison) . P art o f t his b one was s ubmitted f or a r adiocarbon d etermination a nd p roduced a d ate o f e . 2 5 ,000 B .P . T here w ere n o l ithic a rtefacts i n t his l ayer , b ut a v ery i nteresting d iscovery w as t hat o f a s mall b one w hittled t o a p oint . T his w ill b e f ully d escribed b y J ill C ook ( Bramwell e t . a l . i n p rep .) ; s ee a lso h er c ontribution t o t his v olume , i ncluding P late 1 8 . B elow L ayer D ,

a l ight g rey,

s tony b reccia was e ncountered .

T his

d eposit , L ayer E , o verlay t he f issured b edrock o f t he c ave . A f ew s mall v ertebrate r emains w ere f ound , a s w ell a s t wo r ed d eer b ones a nd t he m etacarpal o f a l ar e b ovid b ison ) t hat a ppears t o h ave b een c hewed . T here a re n o a rtefacts f rom t his l ayer a nd , a s y et , n o r adiocarbon d ates.

7 2

R adiocarbon years B .P.

N . W. Europe

( Flandrian)

Archaeological s ites with radiocarbon dates

England

E stimated mean air temps. ° C annual/July

( Flandrian)

10,000 —

Younger Dryas I II

Pollen zone I II

0 o < C O

1 1,000-

A lleröd I I

O lder Dryas

pollen zone I I

INTE RSTADIAL

0

oRobin

Hood's Cave ••Ossom s Cave . R obin Hood's Cave

5

1 0

4

1 2/1

Ol Mother e l Grundy's elParlour

I

Ic

Ossom's Cave } Gough ' s 1 (new) 40 Cave

1 2,000Ib pollen zone Bölling

I a 7

1 3,000 —

1 0

Middle Weichselian — — Middle Devensian

F ig . 2 2 .

S ubdivisions o f t he L ate D evensian ( after W est 1 977 ;

S tuart 1 982)

s howing c hronology o f B ritish L ate D evensian a rchaeological s ites f or w hich r adiocarbon d eterminations a re a vailable . A lso s hown i s t he c orrelation with t he L ate W eichselian o f N .W. E urope a nd e stimated D evensian t emperatures b ased o n p ermafrost f eatures ( from W atson 1 977) .

7 3

T he b one a ssemblage f rom L ayer C S pecies a nd b ody-part r epresentation A lmost 1 000 b ones a nd t eeth w ere r ecovered f rom t his l ayer , o nly f our o f w hich a re i dentified a s s pecies o ther t han r eindeer ( see T able 2 ) . T wo o f t hese a re h orse i ncisors , o ne i s a f ragment o f a b ovine d istal t ibia , a nd t he o ther t he p roximal e nd o f a h uman u lna . T here i s n o d oubt a s t o t he s tratigraphic r eliability o f t hese r emains , a s t hey w ere f ound a mong t he r eindeer b ones , a nd f urthermore , L ayer C w as p rotected f rom l ater i ntrusions b y a l ayer o f s talagmite . W hy t hey o ccur i n w hat i s o therwise a pparently a n a ssemblage o f b utchered r eindeer c annot b e k nown , b ut t hey a re o f c onsiderable i nterest . H uman p resence i s i n a ny e vent a pparent f rom t he a rtefacts a nd b utchered b ones i n L ayer C , b ut i t i s v aluable t o h ave , i n a ddition , a r ecord o f h orse i n t he a rea c ontemporaneously w ith r eindeer a nd m an . I t w ill b e o bvious t hat t he a rguments w hich f ollow d epend h eavily o n t he c ontemporaneity o f t he r eindeer b ones a nd t he a rtefacts w ith e ach o ther a nd w ith t he l ayer i n w hich t hey w ere f ound , a nd o n t he a bsence o f a ny n atural m eans b y w hich t hey c ould h ave b een i ntroduced i nto t he c ave . T here i s n o s pace h ere t o d iscuss a ll t he r elevant d ata ( which w ill b e s et o ut i n B ramwell e t . a l . i n p rep . ) , b ut t here i s , f or e xample , n o c himney a bove t he d eposit a nd n o t unnel f rom t he o utside a t t he b ack o f t he c ave , t hrough w hich t he b ones o r a rtefacts c ould h ave f ound t heir w ay i nto t he d eepest d eposit . Ia m e ntirely s atisfied t hat t he m aterial i s ag roup a nd i n s itu , a nd a rrived b y h uman a gency . I t i s p ossible t hat t he a rtefacts a nd r eindeer r emains r epresent m ore t han o ne v isit t o t he s ite b y t he h unters , b ut a s t here w ere n o a pparent s ubdivisions w ithin t he r eindeer h orizon , a nd a s t here a re n o o bvious d ifferences i n t he p reservation a nd c ondition o f t he b ones , t he a ssemblage h as b een t reated a s o ne f or t he p urposes o f a nalysis . A s t he t otal n umber o f i dentifiable b ones i s f airly s mall ,

i t w as

p ossible t o c ompare t he s ize a nd s tate o f f usion o f v arious s keletal e lements a nd t hus t o e stimate t hat a m inimum o f s ix r eindeer a re r epresented i n t his a ssemblage . I t w ill b e a pparent f rom T able 2 t hat n ot a ll p arts o f t he b ody a re e qually r epresented , w hich s uggests e ither t hat s elected p arts o f t he r eindeer c arcasses w ere b rought t o t he s ite , o r , i f v irtually i ntact c arcasses w ere b rought t o t he s ite f or b utchery ,

t hat s ome p arts w ere t aken

a way a fterwards . N ot i llustrated h ere , b ut d iscussed i n t he f ull r eport o n t he s ite , i s t he f act t hat t he c ranial e lements a nd v ertebrae b elong m ainly t o v ery y oung a nimals , w hereas t he p ost-cranial b ones a re p rincipally t hose o f m ature a nimals. I t m ight b e a rgued t hat t he r elative s carcity o f u nfused p ost-cranial b ones i s d ue t o t heir l esser c hance o f s urvival r esulting f rom t rampling a nd c ompaction o f t he d eposits . T his i s a n u nsatisfactory e xplanation , h owever , i n v iew o f t he f act t hat t he m andibles a nd m axillae o f

t he y oung r eindeer ,

w ith c omplete d eciduous d entition a nd

d elicate , u nerupted p ermanent t eeth , h ave s urvived v irtually i ntact . I t s eems m ore p robable t hat t he d isparate a ge a nd b ody-part r epresentation o f t he r eindeer i s d ue t o s elective h uman a ctivity . I n t he c ase o f t he o lder a nimals , p arts o f t he c arcasses w ere e vidently c arried u p t he s teep s lope t o t he s ite , b ut i t m ight b e r easonable t o s uppose t hat h eads a nd a ntlers w ere d etached a nd l eft a t t he s ite o f t he k ill . N ot o nly w ould t hey h ave b een c umbersome i n t he n arrow c ave b ut, a ccording t o B inford 's ( 1981) o bservations a mong E skimo r eindeer-caribou h unters , t he h ead o f a m ature a nimal i s o ne o f t he f ew p arts t hat i s n ot c onsidered d esirable . O n t he o ther h and , ' c alf h eads a re c onsidered a lmost a d elicacy ' ( Binford 1 981:

7 4

T able 2 .

L arge m ammal s keletal e lements f rom O ssom 's C ave , l ayer C ( for

c alculation o f M NI s ee t ext ;

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8 2 5

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s peculate o n w hat m ight h ave b ecome o f t he c orresponding c alf b odies . T he y oung r eindeer m ight h ave b een c arried c omplete t o t he s ite a nd b utchered f or t ransport e lsewhere. S ite u tilization a nd b utchery M ost a ctivities s eem t o h ave t aken p lace a t t he e ntrance t o t he c ave , a s m ight b e e xpected i n v iew o f t he n arrowness o f i ts i nterior ( see F igure 2 3) . I n p articular , m ost o f t he b one s plinters w ere f ound i n t he e ntrance a rea i n S ectors 5 a nd 6 . I t w as a lso i n t hese t wo s ectors t hat t he a rtefacts a nd c harcoal w ere c oncentrated . I n f act , 3 9 o f t he 4 1 f lint a rtefacts a nd b oth t he c hert p ieces w ere r ecovered f rom ' the j unctions o f s ection 5 a nd 6 . c oncentrated b y t he s ide o f a r idged l imestone b oulder ( Bramwell , 1 955 : 1 5). A s m any E skimos a re s till l argely d ependent u pon r eindeer-caribou a s a s ource o f f ood , s ome o f t he o bservations o f S piess ( 1979) a nd B inford ( 1981) o n t he b utchery m ethods u sed b y E skimos w ere o f i nterest w ith r egard t o i nterpreting t he c ondition o f t he O ssom 's C ave m aterial . A c ertain d egree o f v ariation i s a pparent i n t he m ethods o f b utchery e mployed b y d ifferent E skimo g roups a nd i n p references f or c ertain p arts o f t he r eindeer c arcass , b ut a n umber o f b ehavioural c haracteristics t hat h ave b een o bserved c rossc ulturally a ppear t o h ave p arallels i n t he O ssom 's C ave a ssemblage . A s I h ave d escribed a nd i llustrated t hese f ully f or p ublication i n t he s ite r eport ( Bramwell e t. a l. i n p rep.), o nly a f ew e xamples a re g iven h ere. D issection o f t he l imb j oints o f r eindeer-caribou b y t he E skimos n ormally r esults i n d amge t o t he e piphyses . M ost o f t he a rticular e nds o f t he b ones f rom O ssom 's C ave a re d amaged , a nd a s t he s urface c ondition o f t hese b ones i s o therwise g ood , i t m ight b e s uggested t hat s uch d amage w as c aused i n t he p rocess o f d ismemberment . T wo o f t hese b ones a re i llustrated i n P late 2 . A fter d ismemberment , E skimos g enerally b reak t hrough t he s haft ( diaphysis) o f l ong b ones t o e xtract t he m arrow . R eindeer m arrow h as a p articularly h igh f at c ontent w hich i s m uch s ought a fter b y E skimo r eindeerc aribou h unters .

I n t he p rocess o f e xtraction o f t he m aximum q uantity o f

m arrow , v ery c haracteristic b one a ssemblages r esult , ap redominant f eature o f w hich i s t he h igh n umber o f s plinters o f v arying s ize u p t o am aximum o f a bout 1 00mm x 4 0mm ( Spiess 1 979) . B inford ( 1981) a lso c omments o n t he h igh d egree o f f ragmentation t hat r esults f rom t he m arrow e xtraction p rocess . M easurements o f a ll t he b one s plinters f rom O ssom 's C ave c ompared r emarkably c losely w ith t hose i n o bserved ' marrow-cracking a ssemblages ' . S ee P late 3 f or i llustration o f s ome o f t hese . I f r eindeer- c aribou h unters a re e xtracting m arrow f rom t he l ower l imb b ones , t he p halanges a re u sed a s w ell a s t he m etapodia . W hereas t he m etapodia a re s plit l ongitudinally, t he f irst a nd s econd p halanges a re b roken m id-shaft . T he t hird ( terminal) p halanges a re n ot g enerally w ith t he r est o f t he m eat a nd m arrow b ones a t t his s tage a s t hey a re u sually d etached

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T wo c ategories o f d amage t o v ertebrae t hat c haracterize E skimo b utchery m ethods a lso h ave p arallels i n t he O ssom 's C ave m aterial . T he l ateral p rocesses o f t he t horacic v ertebrae a re b roken i n t he p rocess o f d etaching t he t wo s labs o f r ibs f rom t he v ertebral c olumn , a nd t he l umbar v ertebrae a nd i liac c rest o f t he p elvis a re d amaged when t he h indquarters a re s eparated f rom t he r est o f t he c arcass . S imilar d amage c haracterizes t hese b ody p arts a t O ssom 's C ave , a nd r ibs a re h ighly f ragmented a s t hey t ypically a re a fter E skimo h unters h ave p ounded t hem f or t heir m arrow c ontent. E vidence f or t he s easonal o ccupation o f O ssom 's C ave A t l east f ive i ndividual r eindeer a re r epresented b y m andibular d entition a nd t hree a nimals b y m axillary d entition . E xamination o f t his m aterial a llowed a n e stimation t o b e m ade o f t he a ge a t d eath o f a ll b ut t wo o f t he a nimals r epresented b y t hese d entitions , a nd a lso o f t he t ime o f y ear a t w hich t hey w ere k illed. T his a nalysis i s b ased o n t he w ork o f S piess ( 1979) , w ho f ound a c lose c orrelation b etween a ge a nd t ooth e ruption a mong h undreds o f r eindeerc aribou f rom s everal p opulations i n C anada . S piess s tipulates t hat t he u se o f t ooth e ruption a nd w ear t o d etermine t he m onth o f d eath o f r eindeer i s o nly p recise w hen t he s tudy m aterial c onsists o f m ore o r l ess c omplete d entitions o f a nimals o f l ess t han t wo y ears o f a ge . A s m ost o f t he O ssom 's C ave m aterial c onsists o f m ore o r l ess c omplete d entitions o f y oung a nimals , i t p roved i deal f or c omparison w ith S piess 's a ge d ata . T he u se o f d entition t o d etermine t he s eason o f d eath i s e specially f acilitated i f t he s pecies c oncerned h as a r estricted s eason o f b irth , which i s m arkedly s easonal i n t he c ase o f r eindeer . I n m ost h erds , 9 5% o f a ll c alves a re b orn w ithin a t wo-week p eriod , m id-May b eing t he m ean b irth d ate . ( In t he H igh A rctic , c alving t akes p lace s lightly l ater , i n e arly J une , b ut a d ifference o f af ew w eeks e ither w ay d oes n ot s ignificantly a ffect t he i nterpretation o f t he O ssom 's C ave d ata , a s d iscussed b elow). O f p articular r elevance t o t his d iscussion i s t he t iming o f t he e arlier s tages o f e ruption o f t he p ermanent m olars . I n a p opulation b orn i n m idM ay , t he f irst m olar ( 41) e rupts b etween m id-August a nd m id-October . T he e ruption o f t he s econd m olar b egins a round m id-March . F rom h is e xamination o f r eindeer d entitions o f k nown a ge a t d eath , S piess ( 1979) c oncluded t hat i f M 2 i s o ne q uarter o r l ess t han o ne q uarter e rupted ,

t hen d eath o ccurred

a t 1 011 m onths o f a ge ( March o r A pril i n t he c ase o f a p opulation b orn i n m id-May) . T his o bservation i s i mportant t o t his s tudy b ecause a ll t he O ssom 's C ave r eindeer t hat s till h ave t heir d eciduous d entition a re a t t he s tage w here a q uarter , o r j ust u nder a q uarter , o f M 2 h as e rupted a bove t he b one . T wo o f t hese s pecimens a re i llustrated i n P late 4 . T his s tate o f e ruption w ould s uggest t hat a ll t hese i ndividuals w ere k illed i n M arch/April o r , a t l east , i n t he S pring . I t i s n ot p ossible t o d etermine w hether t he t wo i ndividuals r epresented b y m oderately a nd v ery w orn p remolars w ere a lso k illed a t t his t ime o f y ear , a s t hey w ere o lder t han t hree y ears a t d eath a nd t hus b eyond t his m ethod o f s easonal d etermination . C orroborative e vidence f or a S pring k illing o f t he O ssom 's C ave r eindeer i s p rovided b y s everal a ntlers f rom t he s ite . A ll a re f rom y oung i ndividuals a nd a re t he s o-c alled ' 1st y ear s pikes ' , o ne o f which i s i llustrated i n P late 4 .

I n b oth m ales a nd f emales t hese g row d uring t he

f irst s ummer a nd w inter o f l ife ,

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e ruption o f p ermanent d entition .

r eindeer ' 1 st-year

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8 0

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( Flerov 1 952) . T hus t he f act t hat t he O ssom 's C ave ' spikes ' a re f ully f ormed b ut s till a ttached t o t he f rontal b ones , p rovides f urther e vidence t hat t he d eath o f t hese r eindeer o ccurred i n t he S pring.

S easonal n obility i n t he L ate G lacial T he l ikelihood t hat t he O ssom 's C ave r eindeer w ere k illed i n t he S pring i s i nteresting b ecause i t f ocuses o n t he q uestion o f s easonal m obility i n t he p alaeolithic a nd t he d egree t o w hich h unting ( and g athering ) m ight h ave b een p lanned t o e xploit p articular r esources i n c ertain r egions a t s pecific t imes o f t he y ear . F rom t he d ozens o f l ate g lacial p alaeolithic s ites i n F rance a nd G ermany , w here r eindeer r emains n umber h undreds a nd e ven t housands o f i ndividuals , i t i s e vident t hat t his a nimal w as a m ajor r esource f or h umans f or t housands o f y ears . I n m any c ases , t he s tate o f e ruption o f d entition a nd t he p resence o f s hed o r u nshed ( massacred) a ntlers h ave p rovided i nformation o n t he s eason o f t he y ear a t w hich t hese a nimals w ere k illed . M odern r eindeer a re c onstantly o n t he m ove i n s earch o f p articular p lant f oods , s helter , a nd b reeding g rounds , a nd t here i s n o r eason t o d oubt t hat s imilar a nnual m igrations t o m eet s pecific s easonal r equirements a lso c haracterized t he b ehaviour o f t heir P leistocene c ounterparts . T hus t he f act t hat i n s ome r egions r eindeer k illing i n t he l ate g lacial e vidently t ook p lace i n t he w inter b ut i n t he s ummer i n o ther a reas h as l ed t o t he w idespread b elief a mong a rchaeologists t hat p alaeolithic p eople m oved w ith t he h erds . T his h as b een a t opic o f i nterest t o a rchaeologists f or m ore t han a h undred y ears a s i s a pparent f rom r eviews o f t he e xtensive l iterature a nd d iscussion o n t he s ubject ( e .g . B ay-Petersen 1 975 ; S turdy 1 975 ; B ahn 1 977) . A lthough t here i s s ome d isagreement a s t o w hether t he s easonal e vidence i s c lustered o r s pread t hrough m ost o f t he m onths o f t he y ear , a nd w hether t here i s al ess m igratory f orest f orm o f r eindeer r epresented a t s ome o f t he s ites a s w ell a s at undra f orm , a s i s t he c ase i n N orth A merica a nd E urasia t oday , i t i s g enerally a greed t hat m obility w as p art o f t he w ay o f l ife o f p alaeolithic p eople i n w estern E urope . T he d irection a nd f requency o f t he p roposed m ovements i s s till a rgued , b ut m ost a uthors e nvisage l ong-distance b iannual m igrations b y r eindeer a nd m an . S ome r egions o f w estern E urope t hat p rovide t he p alaeolithic s easonal d ata a re s hown i n F igure 2 4 . A lso i ndicated h ere a re s uggested d irections o f s easonal m ovement o f h erds a nd h umans i n t he l ate g lacial , t he p eriod f or w hich t he m ost a bundant a rchaeological m aterial i s a vailable . C ertainly t he a rchaeological e vidence i ndicates h uman p resence i n p articular p laces a t s pecific s easons o f t he y ear , b ut I would a rgue a gainst t he g eneral s upposition t hat t hese s easonal s ites n ecessarily r epresent t he a ctivities o f h uman g roups t hat h ad t ravelled b etween w idely s eparated r egions o n a n a nnual b asis. T he h erd-following h ypothesis i s b ased u pon t he s upposition t hat , o f t he v arious o ptions l ikely t o h ave b een o pen t o t he p alaeolithic h unters , i t w ould h ave b een t he m ost d ependable m ethod o f e nsuring a c onstant m eat s upply . O ther h unting s trategies w ould h ave i nvolved e ither w aiting f or • h erds t o p ass o n m igration , o r r emaining i n t he w inter o r s ummer g rounds o f t he r eindeer a nd l iving o ff o ther r esources u ntil t heir r eturn t he f ollowing s eason . S turdy ( 1975) a nd B ahn ( 1977) a rgue a gainst t he l atter t wo s trategies o n t he g rounds t hat t he r outes t aken b y r eindeer o n m igration a re u npredictable a nd t hat a lternative f ood a nimals ( other l arge h erbivores)

8 1

. F ig . 2 4 .

M ap o f B ritain a nd n orth-west E urope .

T he m odern 1 00m m arine

c ontour i ndicates t he e xtent o f t he c ontinental m ainland d uring t he L ast ( Devensian/Weichselian ) C old S tage ( after R oe 1 98 1) .

h igh g round o r m ountainous r egions

T he s eason o f o ccupation o f l ate g lacial r eindeer r emains , i s i ndicated a s f ollows : •

w inter s ites

O

s pring s ites

0

s ites ,

b ased o n t he a nalysis o f

s ummer s ites a utumn s ites

T he s easonal d ata f rom t he C ontinental s ites i s t aken f rom B ouchud 1 966 ; G uillen a nd H enri-Martin 1 968 ; S turdy 1 975 ; B ahn 1 977 . D irections o f m igration s uggested b y s ome a uthors a re i ndicated b y b roken l ines .

8 2

p robably a lso m igrated. S tudies o f p resent-day r eindeer-caribou l end s upport t o t he a rgument t hat p alaeolithic h unters c ould n ot h ave d epended u pon i ntercepting m igrating h erds . I t i s a v irtual c ertainty t hat t he t wo s easonal m igrations w ill o ccur , b ut r eindeer m ovements b etween t he t wo s ets o f r esources a re h ighly e rratic . T hey a re g overned f rom y ear t o y ear b y s uch f actors a s t he p revalence o f b iting f lies a nd m osquitoes , w ind a nd w eather c onditions , h erd s ize , a nd i n p articular , b y t he d epth a nd c ondition o f t he s now ( Burch 1 972 ; B anfield 1 974 ; S piess 1 979) . T hus , p articular r outes b etween s ummer a nd w inter g rounds m ay o nly b e u sed t hree o r f our y ears o ut o f e very t en ( White e t . a l . 1 981) . A lthough r eindeer-dependent p eople t oday ( and i n t he h istoric p ast) m onitor r eindeer m ovements a nd , i n a nticipation o f t he r oute t o b e t aken , i ntercept h erds w ith a f air m easure o f s uccess , t he a rrival o f t he r eindeer i s b y n o m eans g uaranteed ( Burch 1 972). B ah res s uggestion t hat t he h unters w ould h ave t o f ollow t he r eindeer b ecause o f a l ack o f a lternative r esources s eems h owever t o b e s omewhat w eakly f ounded . F irst , a lthough r eindeer m igrate s easonally , s outherly b ased h erds s ometimes m ove n orthwards i nto t erritories v acated b y h erds m oving e ven f urther n orth ( Banfield 1 974) . T his r aises t he p ossibility t hat r eindeer w ere a vailable i n s ome r egions f or a l onger p eriod o f t he y ear t han s upposed . S econdly , a nd p erhaps m ore i mportantly , t he e xtent t o w hich o ther h erbivores m igrated i n t he P leistocene i s n ot k nown . I t i s l ikely t hat s ome m ovement w as n ecessary i n o rder t o g ive t he v egetation t ime t o r egenerate , b ut a s t he d ietary r equirements o f h orse a nd b ison , f or e xample ( both g razers) , a re d ifferent f rom t hose o f r eindeer ( a b rowser) , i t i s p ossible t hat s ome h erbivores r emained i n , o r m oved i nto , t he r egions v acated s easonally b y t he r eindeer . R eindeer i n t he A rctic m igrate t oday b ut t he m usk-ox d oes n ot . I n t he w inter , i t w ill d ig a m etre o r m ore b elow t he s now t o f ind g razing i f n ecessary , b ut i t d oes n ot f ollow t he r eindeer i n t heir m ove t o w inter p astures . I n t he s pring , r eindeer m ove t o h igh , o pen g round f or c alving t o m inimize a ttacks b y b iting i nsects a nd l arger p redators, e specially w olves . T he m usk-ox m oves c omparatively s hort d istances a t t his t ime , a s i t a ppears n ot t o b e b othered t o t he s ame e xtent b y t hese p redators ( White e t . a l . 1 981) . L ittle m ention i s m ade o f b ison r epresented i n t he w est E uropean l ate g lacial s ites , b ut i t i s i nteresting t hat b oth S turdy ( 1975) a nd B ahn ( 1977) r efer t o t he g reat n umber o f s oc alled ' h orse-domi n ated ' s ites i n t he s ame r egions a s t he r eindeer s ites . I a m n ot a ware t hat s easonal d ata h ave b een c ompiled f or s pecies o ther t han r eindeer f rom t hese s ites , b ut i t would s eem e ssential t o t he s easonal m igration h ypothesis t o e stablish t he s eason o f d eath o f t he o ther s pecies r epresented. T he s trongest a rgument a gainst l ong-distance m igration b y h uman h unters m ust r est o n t he d ifference i n m obility b etween h umans a nd r eindeer . I n a d iscussion o n t his s ubject a nd i ts a rchaeological i mplications , B urch ( 1972) p rovides a c omprehensive r eview o f t he l iterature o n r eindeer-caribou b ehaviour . R eindeer m ove a lmost c easelessly , e ven a t n ight , h aving a v ariety o f g aits r anging f rom a w alk t o a g allop . U nder o ptimal c onditions , t he w alk h as b een t imed a t o ver 7 km p er h our . T he g ait u sed f or l ong-distance t ravel h as b een e stimated a t a pproximately 1 0km p er h our . T hey a re s ure-footed , a nd t heir m ovement i s s carcely h indered b y t ussock f ields , b are r ock , m uskeg ( a g round s urface t hat h umans h ave d ifficulty w alking o ver ) , o r s teep m ountain s lopes . W hen m igrating , t hey n ormally m ove a t ad aily r ate o f a bout 2 5-30km , a lthough t hey h ave b een o bserved t o

8 3

c over a s m uch a s 6 5km i n a d ay .

T hey a re e xcellent s wimmers ,

a nd r ivers

a nd l arge l akes i n t he p ath o f t heir m igrations a re e asily c rossed . B urch s tates : N o h unting b and ,

w ith w omen ,

c hildren ,

a nd a ged ,

A s

c ould h ope t o

f ollow t hem f or e ven a d ay o r t wo w hen t hey a re m igrating u nless t he a nimals b elong t o o ne o f t he s maller , m ore s edentary h erds t hat move " vertically" i nto mountain a reas r ather t han h orizontally i n t heir a nnual t undra-forest m ovements . E ven i f a dult m ales i n s uperior p hysical c ondition c ould k eep u p w ith t he m igrating a nimals f or a while , t hey would n ot h ave t ime t o b utcher t he m eat , a nd u nprocessed c arcasses w ould b e s cattered t hinly o ver a w ide a rea i n a v ery s hort t ime. T he e nergy e xpenditure w ould b e s o g reat , a nd t he n et p roduction s o l ow , a s t o b e d isastrous f or t he p eople w ho t ried i t

( 1972 :34 9 .

T he s carcity o f B ritish L ate D evensian r eindeer r emains a ssociated w ith a rtefacts h as t hus f ar e xcluded u s f rom p articipating i n a ny d ebate o n p rehistoric s easonal m igration a lthough , o n t he s trength o f t he C ontinental e vidence , s ome a uthors h ave p ostulated a nnual m igrations b etween B ritain a nd n orth-west E urope . C lark ( 1938) w ondered w hether t he w inter r eindeer s ites o f n orthern G ermany m ight h ave s ummer c ounterparts i n B ritain . J acobi ( 1981) , i n a r eview o f t he e nvironmental e vidence a nd o n t he b asis o f s imilarities b etween a ssemblages o f b acked a rtefacts i n B ritain a nd t he N etherlands, h as a lso s uggested s easonal m igrations b etween t hese t wo r egions. I a m m ore c onvinced b y B urch 's a rguments a gainst l ong-distance a nnual m igrations b y p alaeolithic p eople t han I a m b y t he g enerally a ccepted i nterpretation o f t he n orth-west E uropean r eindeer e vidence i n s upport o f t he m igration h ypothesis . H ere I b elieve t hat t he s easonal d ata f rom O ssom 's C ave p rovides a h unters h ad f ollowed t he E ngland b y e arly S pring , l atter p art o f t he w inter

c ase i n p oint . I f t he O ssom 's C ave r eindeer h erds f rom C ontinental E urope t o r each c entral t hey w ould n ecessarily h ave s pent a t l east t he t ravelling a cross t he n orth-west E uropean p lain

a nd s outh-e ast E ngland , av ast a rea d evoid o f n atural s helter . B earing i n n ot o nly t he w eather c onditions , i t s eems u nlikely t hat s uch m igrations

-m ind

w ere v iable i n t he L ate D evensian . T he r outes o f m odern r eindeer o n S pring m igration t end t o f ollow w aterways , t he a xes o f w hich a re i n t he d irection o f t he m igration ( Banfield 1 951) . T he M anifold V alley c ould h ave p rovided j ust s uch a r oute b etween t he p lains o f t he T rent a nd t he h ills o f t he P eak D istrict ( Figure 1 8) , a nd t he s teep- s ided v alley w ould h ave o ffered a g ood v antage p oint f or h unters . W hether t heir p resence i n t his v alley w as c oincidental , o r w hether i t w as p lanned i n t he e xpectation t hat t he r eindeer would p ass t hrough i n t he S pring c annot b e k nown . N evertheless , t he s easonal e vidence f rom O ssom 's C ave

c learly

i ndicates

t heir p resence

i n

t he P eak D istrict

a nd ,

o n t he b asis o f a rguments o utlined a bove ,

i n t he S pring

I w ould s uggest t hat t hey

w ere n ot v ery f ar d istant d uring t he w inter m onths .

S ummary A t p resent , t he B ritish a rchaeological e vidence f or h uman o ccupation o f t hese i slands d uring t he L ast G lacial i s p oor b y C ontinental s tandards , p artly b ecause t here a re f ew B ritish c aves t o c ompare i n s ize a nd c ontent

8 4

w ith t he F rench s ites, f or e xample , a nd p artly b ecause s o m uch a rchaeological material h as b een l ost h istorically . T his s erves t o e mphasize t he i mportance o f a s ite s uch a s O ssom 's C ave i n S taffordshire , w hich h as a w ell-stratified f auna a ssociated w ith a rtefacts a nd r adiocarbon d ates i ndicating h uman p resence i n c entral E ngland i n t he L ate D evensian . T he s ite w as e xcavated w ith g reat c are a nd a ll r ecords a nd m aterial k ept . O ne o f t he i nteresting p oints a bout t his c ave i s t hat , b ecause i t i s v ery s mall , i t p robably s erved o nly a s a n o ccasional o r t emporary s helter , i n t his c ase f or t he p urpose o f b utchering s everal r eindeer . F urther m ore , t he f aunal r emains a re s o w ell p reserved t hat i t h as b een p ossible t o m ake a d etailed s tudy o f d amage t o t he b ones c aused i n t he p rocess o f b utchery a nd t o s uggest t he s eason o f t he y ear w hen t he h unters w ere i n t he r egion o f t he s ite , n amely t he s pring . I n v iew o f a rchaeological i nterest i n s easonal m obility d uring t he p alaeolithic , a nd b ecause i t i s w idely h eld t hat h umans m ade e xtensive s easonal m igrations i n p ursuit o f m igratory p rey, i t i s i nteresting t o h ave

t his

s easonal

e vidence f or h uman p resence i n B ritain .

A lthough O ssom 's C ave p rovides a n i solated i nstance , Ih ope t hat i t w ill b e p ossible i n t he n ear f uture t o e xtend o ur u nderstanding o f t he s easonal o ccupation o f t he s ites i n t he r egion , i f n ot t hrough a n a nalysis o f t he r ather p oorly p rovenanced e xisting a rchaeological c ollections, t hen b y f urther r esearch i n t he a rea .

A cknowledgements I t hank D r . D .A . . R oe f or h is h elpful c omments o n a d raft o f t he m anuscript , a nd D r . A .J . S tuart a nd D r . R .M . J acobi f or u npublished d ata o n t he s mall v ertebrates a nd t he a rtefacts r espectively . I a m a lso g rateful t o S imon C ollcutt , A ndrew C urrant , R oger J acobi a nd R ogan J enkinson f or i nformation s upplied o n v arious o ccasions o n a spects o f t he B ritish c ave m aterial.

R eferences rance d uring S easonal m igration i n S outh-west F J . A rch. S ci. 4 : 2 45-257.

B ahn , P .G . 1 977 . G lacial p eriod. B anfield ,

A .F .W.

1 951.

T he b arren-ground c aribou.

O ttawa :

t he L ate

D ept . o f

R esearch a nd D evelopment. B anfield ,

A .F .W .

1 974 .

T he m ammals o f C anada .

T oronto :

U niversity

o f T oronto P ress . B ay-Petersen , J .L. F rance

a nd

1 975.

D enmark .

P reneolithic f aunal e xploitation i n s outhern

U npublished

P h .D .

d issertation ,

U niversity

o f

C ambridge, E ngland. B inford , L .R .

1 981.

B ones:

a ncient men a nd modern myths .

N ew Y ork :

A cademic P ress. B ouchud ,

J .

1 966 .

E ssai s ur l e r enne e t l a c limatologie d u P algolithique

m oyen e t s upgrieur.

P grigeux : I mprimerie M agne.

B ramwell ,

R eport o n w ork a t O ssom 's

D .

1 954 .

A rch. S oc. N ewsletter.

1

( Dec. 1 954).

8 5

C ave

f or

1 954 .

P eakland

B ramwell , D . 1 955. S econd r eport o n t he e xcavation o f O ssom 's C ave. P eakland A rch. S oc. N ewsletter. 1 2 ( Dec. 1 955). B ramwell , D . 1 956 . T hird r eport o n e xcavations a t O ssom 's C ave . A rch. S oc. N ewsletter. 1 3 ( Dec. 1 956).

P eakland

B ramwell , D . e t a l i n p rep . T he f inal r eport o n O ssom 's C ave i s n ow b eing p repared , b ut d etails a re n ot y et a vailable. B urch , E .S. 1 972. T he c aribou/wild A merican A ntiquity. 3 7: 3 : 3 39-368.

r eindeer

a s

a h uman

r esource .

B urleigh , R " J acobi , E .B . a nd J acobi , R .M . 1 985 . E arly h uman r esettlement o f t he B ritish I sles f ollowing t he G lacial m aximum : n ew e vidence f rom G ough 's C ave, C heddar. Q uaternary N ewsletter. 4 5:1-6. C ampbell , J .B .

1 977 .

T he U pper P alaeolithic o f B ritain : a s tudy o f Man

a nd N ature i n t he L ate I ce A ge. C lark , J .G .D . P rehist. S oc.

V ols. 1 a nd 2 .

1 938 . E arly r eindeer 4 : 1 : 2 28-229.

h unters

O xford : i n

C larendon P ress.

n orthern

G ermany .

P roc .

C ollcutt , S .N ., C urrant, A .P . a nd H awkes, C .J . 1 981. A f urther r eport o n t he e xcavations a t S un H ole , C heddar . P roc . U niv . B ristol S pelaeol. S oc . 1 6 : 1 : 2 1-38 . F lerov ,

K .K .

d eer .

M oscow a nd L eningrad.

G owlett,

1 952.

J .A.J.,

F auna o f t he U .S.S.R . M a mmals. V ol . 1 : M usk d eer a nd

H all,

E .T.,

( English t ranslation , J erusalem , 1 960). H edges,

R adiocarbon d ates f rom t he O xford A NS A rchaeometry. 2 8 : 1 . ( in p ress). G uillen , c hasse :

Y . a nd H enri-Martin , G . 1 968 . l 'abri a urignacien d e L a Q uina .

R .E.M.

s ystem :

a nd

P erry,

C .

1 986.

A rchaeometry D atelist

I II .

D entures d e r ennes e t s aisons d e L 'Anthropologie . 7 2 : 3 37-348 .

J acobi, R .M . 1 980 . T he U pper P alaeolithic o f B ritain , w ith s pecial r eference t o W ales . I n T aylor , J .A . ( ed .), C ulture a nd E nvironment i n P rehistoric Wales, p p . 1 5-100 . O xford : B ritish A rchaeological R eports . ( BS 7 6). J acobi, R .M . 1 981. T he L ate W eichselian p eopling o f B ritain a nd N orth-west E urope. A rchaeologia I nterregionalis. 1 :57-76. K rakow . J enkinson , R .D .S. 1 984 . C reswell C rags: L ate P leistocene s ites i n t he E ast M idlands. O xford : B ritish A rchaeological R eports. ( BS 1 22). Mellars, A ntiquity. R oe ,

D .A .

P .A .

1 969 .

R adiocarbon

d ates

f or a n ew

C reswellian

s ite .

4 3: 3 08-310. 1 981.

T he L ower a nd M iddle P alaeolithic p eriods i n B ritain .

L ondon : R outledge & K egan P aul. S cott , K . 1 985 . V ertebrate r emains f rom B ritish s ites . d issertation ( in p reparation), U niversity o f C ambridge, E ngland.

8 6

D octoral

S piess , A .E . 1 979 . R eindeer a nd c aribou h unters : a n a rchaeological s tudy . N ew Y ork : A cademic P ress . S tuart , J .A . L ongman.

1 982 .

P leistocene v ertebrates i n t he B ritish I sles .

S tuart , AJ . 1 983 . P leistocene b one c aves i n B ritain a nd I reland : r eview . S tudies i n S pelaeology. 4 : 9 -36. S turdy , D .A . 1 975. H iggs, E .S. ( ed .), U niversity P ress. W atson , E . D evensian.

L ondon :

a s hort

S ome r eindeer e conomies i n p rehistoric E urope . I n P alaeoeconomy , p p . 5 5-95. C ambridge : C ambridge

1 977 . T he p eriglacial e nvironment o f G reat B ritain d uring t he P hil. T rans. R oy. S oc. L ond. S eries B . 2 80 : 1 83-198.

W est , R .G . 1 977 . E arly a nd M iddle D evensian f lora a nd v egetation . T rans. R oy. S oc. L ond. S eries B . 2 80 : 2 29-246.

P hil .

White , R .G . , B unnell , F .L" G aare , E . , S kogland , T . a nd H ubert, B . 1 981. U ngulates o n A rctic r anges. I n B liss, L .C . , H eal , 0 .W . a nd Moore , J .J . ( eds . ) , T undra E cosystems , p p . 3 97-443 . C ambridge : C ambridge U niversity P ress.

8 7

N EW U PPER P ALAEOLITHIC H UMAN R EMAINS F ROM R OBIN H OOD 'S C AVE , C RESWE LL C RAGS S SSI, UK . R .D .S. J enkinson , D .D . G ilbertson , C .M . G riffin , C .O . Hunt , P .J . R owe , a nd G .M . C oles.

I NTRODUCTION R obin H ood 's C ave i s aw ell-known l ocality f or M iddle a nd U pper P alaeolithic a rtefact a ssemblages ( Jenkinson a nd G ilbertson , 1 984) . S ubstantial e xcavations w ere u ndertaken b y M ello a nd B oyd D awkins d uring 1 8751877 a nd b y L aing ( 1889) . M ore r ecently , s maller s cale e xcavations w ere u ndertaken b y C ampbell ( 1969) i n o ne o f t he c ave 's e ntrances . H uman s keletal r emains , n ow l ost , w ere r ecovered d uring t he e xcavations o f M ello a nd B oyd D awkins a nd l ater b y L aing . C ampbell 's r ecent e xcavations p roduced f urther f ragments o f h uman b one which w ere r eported t o b e o f L ater U pper P alaeolithic a ge (Campbell, 1 977). T his

s tudy

r eports

a h uman m andible

f ound b y t wo

s choolboys

i n 1 975 .

T he m andible a nd a n a ssociated f ragment o f R angifer t arandus a ntler f irst c ame t o t he a uthor 's a ttention i n 1 978 . S ubsequent c ommunications w ith t he f inders e stablished t he c ontext o f t he f inds t o l ie i n a n a rea o f i nfill a dhering t o t he r ear wall o f t he c ave 's w estern c hamber . I t was e stablished t hat t he f ind s pot l ay s lightly m ore t han 1 . 50 m b elow a n e xtant a nd m ajor f lowstone d eposit i n t he e xtreme s outh-western a rea o f t his c hamber . T he a rea i s o f c onsiderable i nterest i n t hat h uman s keletal m aterial w as r ecovered h ere b y L aing ( 1889) . T hese r emains ( 1 10 1d l ost) w ere a ssociated w ith a n a rtefact a ssemblage ( now a lso l ost). I t i s c lear t hat t his a rea o f t he c ave w as f illed w ith a n u ndisturbed s equence o f P leistocene s ediment, s ealed b y ah ard f lowstone.

R ecent E xcavations I n 1 981, n ew e xcavations w ere u ndertaken a t v arious l ocations w ithin t he c ave . T hese w ere c onfined t o s ections o f i n s itu i nfill l eft u ndisturbed b y p revious e xcavators . A c lear o bjective o f t his w ork w as t o e stablish t he s equence a nd a ge o f i nfilling o f t he c ave , a nd d ating o f i ts a ssociated P alaeolithic a rtefact a ssemblages ( Jenkinson e t . a l" i n p reparation ) . O ne o f t he a reas s elected f or s tudy w as t he s ection w hich p roduced m andible r eported h ere : s ite R I TA ( Fig. 2 5).

t he h uman

M ethods T he s ediments o f s ite R I TA w ere e xcavated i n a s eries o f 2 9 s pits , e ach o f 1 00 mm t hickness. P ollen s pot s amples w ere t aken f rom t he m ore s ilty h orizons , w here p ossible , a nd s o w ere t aken o nly o n a n a verage o f 1 00 mm . L aboratory

a nalyses

w ere

c arried

o ut

o f

t he

s ediment

g ranulometry ,

g eochemistry a nd p alynology ; t he v ertebrate s equence w as e stablished a nd t he c apping f lowstone h as b een T horium/Uranium s eries d ated . A c ritical i ssue h as b een t he m atching o f t he m andible p recisely w ith t he e xcavated s equence .

8 9

9 0

s ection o f R obin H ood 's C ave ,

s howing s tratigraphical r elationships o f t he h uman m andible .

T his h as b een a chieved t hrough p ollen a nalysis o f s ediment a dhering t o t he m andible

a nd a ssociated a ntler

f ragment .

T he

m andible

h ad

b een

c leaned

while u ndergoing r epair , s o y ielded l ittle s ediment a nd o nly o ne p alynomorph , aC arboniferous s pore o f t he g enus L ycospora . T he f ragment o f r eindeer a ntler y ielded a bout 5 m l o f s ilty s and , w hich g ave a n e xcellent p ollen s pectrum , s imilar i n p reservation t o t he p ollen r ecovered f rom s ection R I TA ( Table 3 ).

R esults A p ost q uem d ate f or t he s equence i s p rovided b y aT horium/Uranium e stimate o f 8 350 y ears B P ( Table 4 ) . T he r esults o f t he p alynological a nalyses a re g iven i n F ig . 2 6 a nd T able 3 . T he a nalyses o f t he c hemical a nd p hysical c haracteristics o f t he s ediments ( granulometry ; o rganic C arbon , P hosphorus a nd C alcium c arbonate c ontent) , t he v ertebrates a nd t he p ollen a re c onsistent a nd r ule o ut a ny p ossibility o f p revious d isturbance o f t he e xcavated s ection . T he

p ollen a nalysis

o f

t he s ediment a dhering

t o t he a ntler f ragment ,

f ound w ith t he m andible , i s c losely c omparable w ith t he p ollen s pectra f rom s pits 2 0-27 ( Figs . 2 5 a nd 2 6 ; T able 3 ) . T his o bservation s ubstantiates e yewitness r eports t hat t he p rovenance o f t he m andible w as a l ocation 1 . 702 .00 m b elow t he f lowstone h orizon .

D iscussion T he e vidence s trongly s uggests t hat t he m andible p redates t he l ast g lacial m aximum , f or r easons i ncluding t he f ollowing : 1 . P revious s tudies h ave e stablished b eyond d oubt t hat t he L ater U pper P alaeolithic ( Creswellian) a ssemblages o f R obin H ood 's C ave , o f L ate D evensian a ge , a re c onfined t o a b reccia , i mmediately u nderlying t he f lowstone h orizon . T he f lowstone , a s w e h ave s een , i s h ere d ated t o 8 350 y ears B P . T he b reccia c ontaining t he L ater U pper P alaeolithic a ssemblages l ies 1 .5 m a bove t he m andible l ocation a t s ite R HA. 2 . T he 1 981 e xcavations h ave d emonstrated t hat P leistocene m ammalian s pecies a re d istributed t hroughout t he d eposits u nderlying t he b reccia . O f p articular n ote i s t he p resence o f h yaena ( Crocuta c rocuta) a n a rctic l emming ( Dicrostonyx t orquata) a bove t he m andible l ocation . I t h as b een a rgued t hat h yaena b ecame e xtinct i n B ritain p rior t o t he l ast g lacial m aximum o f t he L ate D evensian ( Stuart,

1 182).

3 . T he p ollen s equence a t a nd a bove t he m andible l ocation s uggests a s eries o f c limatic o scillations, w ith t wo s tadial p hases a nd t wo i nterstadial p hases .

T he l ower o f t hese i nterstadial p hases , w ith w hich t he

m andible i s a ssociated , i s c haracterised b y G ramineae , h erbs a nd B etula c f . n ana . T he p ollen a ssemblages a re c omparable i n a spect w ith t hose r eported f rom t he U pton Warren I nterstadial C omplex ( Andrew a nd W est, 1 977) , s uggesting a h erb-rich g rassland w ith s ome b irch s crub . T he u pper i nterstadial p hase i s c haracterised b y C yperaceae , s uggesting a s edget undra . T he p attern o f t he c limatic c hanges s uggested b y t he p ollen a nalysis ( and s upported b y t he s ediment a nalyses a nd t he v ertebrate a ssemblages) i s t otally u nlike t he p attern o f c limatic c hange k nown f rom t he L ate D evensian ( see , f or i nstance , P ennington , 1 977) . T he a ssemblages f rom

9 1

T able 3 P ollen f rom t he R angifer t arandus a ntler f ragment a ssociated w ith t he h uman m andible f rom S ection A , R obin H ood 's C ave . N o. B etula c f. n ana

d warf b irch

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T his e vidence s uggests t hat t he s ediments o f s ite R HA p redate t he l ate D evensian g lacial m aximum

( F ig .

2 5) .

T he g lacial m aximum i s m ost p robably

c orrelated w ith t he b reccia i mmediately a bove t he e xcavated a rea , b ut b elow t he L ater U pper P alaeolithic o ccupation h orizon a nd t he d ated f lowstone. T he m andible ( Plates 5 a nd 6 ) , w hich i s c urrently u nder s tudy ( Jedkinson e t . a l . i n p rep .) , i s c learly o f H omo s apiens s apiens t ype . I t h as n one o f t he r obust f eatures a ssociated w ith H omo s apiens n eanderthalensis.

C onclusions T he e vidence o utlined a bove s trongly s uggests t hat t he s ediments o f s ite R HA , a nd t hus t he m andible , m ust p redate t he L ate D evensian g lacial m aximum . T he m andible i s a ssociated w ith a g rass-based i nterstadial , c omparable i n a spect w ith t he M iddle D evensian U pton W arren I nterstadial . I t i s p robably c ontemporary w ith t he e arliest U pper P alaeolithic i n B ritain . T here i s, h owever , n o p rovable s tratigraphical a ssociation b etween t he m andible a nd t he E arly U pper P alaeolithic i ndustries w hich a re w ell-known f rom R obin H ood 's c ave ( Mello , 1 876 ; C ampbell , 1 977) . U nfortunately t he i ndustries r eported b y L aing ( 1889) , w hich f rom h is b rief d escription a ppear t o h ave i ncluded a rtefacts w hich w e w ould n ow c onsider c haracteristic o f t he E arly U pper P alaeolithic , c annot b e t raced . T he e xtreme r arity o f h uman s keletal m aterial f rom t he M id D evensian a dds f ind.

t o

t he

i mportance

o f

t his

A c imowledgements T his w ork w as f unded b y N ottinghamshire a nd D erbyshire C ounty C ouncils , w ho m anage t he s ite . C .M . G riffin a nd G .M . C oles a cknowledge C ASE s cholarships f rom t he S cience a nd E ngineering R esearch C ouncil a nd N ottinghamshire C ounty C ouncil . We t hank I .P . B rooks, who t ook t he p hotographs a nd E lizabeth N ussey , w ho t yped t he m anuscript .

R eferences A ndrew, R . a nd West , R .G . 1 977 .

P ollen a nalyses f rom F our A shes , Worcs .

P hil. T rans. R oy. S oc. L ond. B . 2 80 : 2 42-246. B oyd D awkins , W . 1 876 . O n t he M ammalia a nd t races o f M an i n R obin H ood 's C ave. Q uart. J ourn . G eol. S oc. L ond. 3 2 : 2 40-259. C ampbell ,

J .B .

1 969 .

A rchaeological J ournal. C ampbell ,

J .B .

1 977 .

E xcavations

a t

C reswell

C rags.

D erbyshire

8 9 : 4 7-58. T he U pper P alaeolithic o f B ritain : as tudy o f M an a nd

N ature i n t he L ate I ce A ge . C oles , G .M . ( in p reparation).

2v ols .

O xford :

C larendon P ress .

P ollen a nalysis o f C ave C 22, C reswell.

9 5

P late 5 .

H uman m andible f rom s ite R HA , R obin H ood 's C ave, i n o blique

l ateral v iew , n atural s ize .

P late 6 . n atural

H uman m andible f rom s ite R HA , s ize .

9 6

R obin H ood 's C ave ,

i n f ront v iew ,

J enkinson , R .D .S . a nd G ilbertson , D .D . 1 984 . I n t he S hadow o f E xtinction : A Q uaternary A rchaeology a nd P alaeoecology o f t he L ake , F issures a nd s maller C aves a t C reswell C rags S SSI. S heffield : J .R. C ollis. J enkinson , R .D .S. , R obin H ood's C ave. L aing , R . 1 889 .

e t. a l .

i n

p reparation .

T he Q uaternary H istory o f

O n t he b one c aves a t C reswell a nd t he d iscovery o f a n

e xtinct P liocene F eline , ( Fells b revirostris) , n ew t o G reat B ritain . R eport o f t he A ssociation f or t he A dvancement o f S cience ( Newcastle) . 5 825 84. M ello , J .M . 1 876 . O n t he b one c aves o f C reswell . L ondon . 3 2 : 2 40-259.

Q uart . J ourn . G eol . S oc .

P ennington , W . 1 977 . T he L ate D evensian f lora a nd v egetation o f B ritain . P hil. T rans. R oy. S oc. L ond. B . 2 80 : 2 47-272. S tuart ,

A .J.

1 982.

P leistocene V ertebrates i n t he B ritish I sles .

L ongman .

9 7

L ondon :

E XCAVATIONS A T L ITTLE H OYLE ( 1 1XWBURY H A W , W ALES , I N 1 984 . S TEPH 12 4(MTEN W ith s pecialist r eports b y P ETER B ULL, EWAN C AMPBELL , G ERAINT C OLES AND A NDREW C IMRANT P ART I : E XCAVATIONS A ND A RCHAEOLOGY. ( STEPHEN G REEN).

I ntroduction T he N ational M useum o f W ales i nitiated , i n 1 978 , a r esearch p rogramme i nto t he P alaeolithic S ettlement o f W ales . S even s easons o f e xcavation h ave n ow t aken p lace a t t he o nly L ower P alaeolithic c ave-site k nown i n Wales, P ontenewydd C ave i n C lwyd ( Green e t . a l . 1 981; G reen , 1 981, 1 983 , 1 984) , a nd a t t he n earby s ites o f C efn a nd C ae G ronw . O ne c omponent o f t he r esearch p rogramme i s t he d efinitive p ublication o f t he w ork o f t he l ate P rofessor C harles M cBurney a t t he s ites o f C athole i n t he G ower p eninsula a nd a t C oygan , L ittle H oyle a nd N anna 's C ave , a ll i n D yfed ( McBurney , 1 959) . O ne o f t hese l ast-named s ites , C oygan , i s o f M iddle P alaeolithic a ge b ut i s n ow d estroyed b y q uarrying . T he d evelopment o f t he r esearch p rogramme n ecessitated , t herefore , t he s election o f a n U pper P alaeolithic s ite f or e xcavation a nd , h ere , L ittle H oyle C ave s uggested i tself f or t hree r easons : f irst , i ts l ocation i n a n a rea o f W ales w hich w as n ot g laciated d uring t he l ast, D evensian , g laciation , w ith t he c onsequential p ossibility o f t he d iscovery o f i n s itu l iving f loors ; s econd , t he e xtensive d eposits w hich c learly s urvived b oth i nside a nd o utside t he c ave ; a nd , t hird , t he d emonstration b y C harles M cBurney o f t he a rchaeological p otential o f t he s ite . T he s ite i s a lso o f c onsiderable i mportance f or i ts f inds o f s ixthc entury A .D . d ate .

T he L ocation o f t he S ite T he c ave i s s ituated ( Fig . 2 7) i n a n arrow r idge , r unning N E-SW , k nown a s L ongbury B ank ( SS 11 9 99) . T hree c ave-entrances o pen f rom t he n orth s ide o f t he r idge a nd o ne f rom t he s outh . I n t he c entre o f t he r idge t he c ave c onnects , v ia a l arge c himney , w ith t he m odern s urface . T he v alleys w hich r un e ither s ide o f t he c ave , h ere c alled t he N orth a nd S outh V alleys , a re n arrow . F ield s urvey b y A ngela F ussell h as s hown t hat t heir f loors l ie a t o nly 1 3 m O .D . a nd s o w ould h ave b een w ithin t he r ange o f I pswichian s ea l evel . A ugering a nd e xcavation i n t hese v alleys h as r evealed a d epth o f a t l east 2 m o f R ecent c olluvium a nd f luvial d eposits . T he c ave i tself l ies a t 2 0 m O .D . a nd t he s urface o f t he r idge a t 2 6 m . O nly 3 50 m d istant t o t he n orth ,

o verlooking t he R itec V alley ,

i s t he

b etter-known U pper P alaeolithic s ite o f H oyle 's M outh ( also c alled " The H oyle" ) , b ut s urface i ndications a nd r ecent e xcavation ( Savory 1 973) s uggest t hat o nly s canty i n s itu d eposits m ay s urvive t here .

9 9

1 15

11 0 06

S N 0 06

R ITEC VALL EY

L ITTLE HOYLE /

7 -

9 99

9 99

1 11 F ig . 2 7 .

1 15

L ittle H oyle .

T he l ocation o f t he s ite :

1 00

s ketch p lan .

SS

T he H istory o f t he S ite T he c ave ,

v ariously k nown a s L ittle H oyle o r L ongbury B ank C ave ,

k nown s ince a t

l east

1 866 when i t w as

e xplored b y t he R ev . H .H .

h as b een W inwood .

W inwood 's d iscoveries c omprised b ones o f B os g oat , b adger a nd d og , a nd s hells o f o yster , l impet a nd m ussel w hich m ust , i n a ll l ikelihood , d erive f rom p ost -P leistocene c ontexts . M any o f t he b ones w ere b urnt , ac ondition n oted a mong t he R ecent f auna r ecovered i n 1 984 . I n a ddition , W inwood f ound a f ew h uman b ones , t wo f lint f lakes a nd s ome f ine " red-grained" p ottery w hich P rofessor B oyd D awkins c onsidered t o b e o f R oman a ge

( 1874 :

1 33) .

T he c ave w as n ext e xamined , a round 1 870 , b y t he R ev . G .N . S mith , t hen R ector o f t he n earby p arish o f G umfreston , b ut n o .r ecords o f h is d iscoveries s urvive ( L aws 1 888 : 6 ; L each 1 945) . I n 1 877 , t he c ave w as e xcavated b y W ilmot P ower a nd E dward L aws ( Laws , 1 878) . T hey c orrectly r ecorded t he e xistence o f r elic b reccia d eposits c emented t o t he c ave w alls w hich ' stood o ut l ike s helves o r b rackets ' . P ower a nd L aws e xcavated t he y ounger d eposits w hich h ad a ccumulated b elow t he l evel o f t hese ' s helves ' o f b reccia a nd a lso w ithin t he c entral c himney . M ost o f t he r emains f ound w ere o f R oman a nd l ater a ge a lthough a n a dinole s craper , c ertainly , a nd a p erforated b one b odkin , p robably , w ere p rehistoric ( Fig . 2 8) . T he h istoric f inds c ame f rom t wo ' heaps o f b lack v egetable mould , m ixed i n with b roken s hells, b ones , a nd a ngular f ragments o f l imestone ' . T he b odkin a nd s craper c ame f rom t he s urface o f a p robably P leistocene d eposit ( see b elow) u nderlying o ne o f t hese h eaps . I n

1 878 ,

N o c ertain P leistocene f auna w as d iscovered .

t he c ave w as

e xamined b y a c ommittee c omposed o f

P rofessor

R olleston , Major-General L ane F ox - b etter k nown t o a rchaeologists a s G eneral P itt R ivers - P rofessors B usk a nd D awkins , D r . J ohn E vans a nd M r . F .G . H ilton-Price . T he c ommittee p ublished a n a ccount o f i ts f indings ( Rolleston e t . a l . 1 878) , b ut much more v aluable i s a l arge watercolour s ection d rawing e ntitled ' Longbury c ave n ear P enally , e xplored b y P rof . R olleston a nd E . L aws ' a nd p reserved i n t he T enby Museum . My i nterpretative d rawing o f t his s ection i s i ncluded h ere ( Fig . 2 9) . T he p ublished a ccount a nd s ection e mbrace t he w ok o f L aws a nd t he e xcavations o f 1 877-78 a re b est c onsidered t ogether . I n t he c ourse o f t hese t wo y ears t he e mptying o f t he c entral c himney s eems t o h ave b een c ompleted a nd f inds f rom t here i nclude t he h uman r emains o f s ome 9 -11 p eople , s cattered t hroughout i ts d epth a nd a ssociated w ith R oman a nd l ater f inds a nd w ith t he b ones o f d omestic a nimals a nd s hellfish . T he R olleston a ccount a nd s ection b oth d escribe a nd p ortray t he s craper a nd b odkin a s c oming f rom ' in t he r ed c ave e arth , j ust i nside t he n orth c ave a nd b eneath t he b lack m ould ' , b ut L aws h ad m ade i t c lear , a s w e h ave s een , t hat t hese f inds c ame f rom t he s urface o f t hat d eposit ( laws 1 878 , 8 6 : R olleston e t . a l . 1 879 , 2 14) . A lso f rom t he N orth C ave i s r ecorded t he f inding o f s ome 1 60 o r s o f ragments o f b ones o r t eeth o f r hinoceros o r e lephant a nd t he b ones o f b ear , r oe d eer ,

W riting i n 1 888 ,

L aws h ad d escribed t he L ittle H oyle a s ' cleared o ut ' b y

t he w ork o f 1 8771878 . i n 1 9581959 a nd 1 963 , 1 959) ,

r ed d eer ,

e agle a nd b lack g rouse .

T hree s easons o f w ork b y P rofessor C harles M cBurney o f w hich o nly t he f irst s eason i s r eported ( McBurney

d emonstrated t hat s ubstantial d eposits e xisted a t t he c ave .

M cBurney

d iscovered a n u pper a nd a l ower t hermoclastic s cree , s eparated b y a ' f iner g rained d eposit v arying f rom s ilt t o c lay g rade w ith a w ell m arked r eddish z one a nd a nother b lackish i n h ue ' . F rom t he U pper S cree a t ad epth o f ' some 1 8 i nches t o 2f eet ( 45-60 c m) . . was a t hin s catter o f b ones a nd

1 01

F ig . 2 8 . L ittle H oyle . e xcavated b y E dward L aws .

F ig . 2 9 .

L ittle H oyle .

P erforated b one b odkin a nd a dinole

I nterpretation o f s ection d rawing

s craper

r ecording t he

e xcavation o f 1 877-78 a nd p reserved i n t he T enby M useum ( original b y P rofessor R olleston a nd E dward L aws) . T he s tipple i ndicates r e lic c emented w all -d eposits.

1 02

r are l umps o f c harcoal , a nd a s ingle v ery t ypical l arge C reswellian t ype p en-knife b lade '. F auna r ecovered b y McBurney f rom t he U pper S cree i ncluded r eindeer , b ear a nd f ox ( Rangifer t arandus , U rsus s p . , a nd V ulpes s p ) . A r adius o f L epus s p . , p ossibly o f L epus t imidus ( the a rctic h are ) , w as t he o nly i dentifiable b one f rom t he L ower S cree .

T he N ational M useum o f Wales e xcavations i n 1 984 A t wo w eek e xploratory s eason t ook p lace a t E aster 1 984 a nd t he work u ndertaken w as a s f ollows ( F ig . 3 0 a nd P lates 7 a nd 8 ) : ( 1)

McBurney 's d eep s ounding o f e xtension N P3) .

1 958 was . r eopened ( trench N P2,

p lus

( 2)

a t rial t rench ( NP1) w as ( entrance I II) .

( 3)

at est p it ( NC ) w as o pened i nside t he N orth C ave.

( 4)

a t rench ( R1) , 3 .00 m s quare , w as o pened o n t he r idge a bove t he c ave t o l ook f or p ossible o pen a ir s ettlement .

( 5)

at est p it ( SV1) ,

o pened a t a p reviously u ntouched e ntrance

1 . 20 m s quare a nd 1 . 60 m d eep ,

w as d ug i n t he S outh

V alley t o e xamine t he d epth a nd n ature o f t he s tratigraphy t here a nd t o l ook f or p ossible o pen a ir s ettlement-debris . T he m ost i mportant r esults w ere o btained f rom i nside t he N orth C ave ( NC1) a nd f rom t rench 2 o n t he N orth P latform ( NP2) . A t ransect o f a uger h oles i n t he N orth V alley b y D r . J ohn E vans d emonstrated a d epth o f s everal m etres o f c olluvium . S V1 d emonstrated m uch t he s ame p icture b ut w ith a lluvial l ayers o f s and a nd g ravel n ear t he b ase o f t he s ection . T he f ull s equence o f v alley d eposits w ill n eed t o b e e xplored d uring t he s econd s eason o f w ork a t t he s ite p roposed f or 1 986 , t o s ee i f o pen a ir s ettlements , a nd p erhaps e ven I pswichian d eposits, a re p reserved a t a g reater d epth . O n t he n orthern f ace o f t he S outh V alley i s af light o f M edieval s trip l ynchets a nd t here c an b e l ittle d oubt t hat much o f t he c olluvium i s t he r esult o f M edieval, a nd p erhaps e arlier , a gricultural a ctivity.

T he . Dark A ge O ccupation T he s ite i s i mportant n ot o nly f or i ts U pper P alaeolithic f inds b ut a lso f or as catter o f p otsherds o f i mport w ares o f D ark A ge d ate . A ccordingly , p art o f t he r esearch d esign i s t o g auge t he i mportance o f t his p hase o f t he s ite 's h istory ( Alcock 1 958) . A f urther D ark A ge s herd , o f 7 th c entury ' E ' w are , i dentified b y E wan C ampbell , w as r ecovered f rom t rench N P1 i n 1 984 . I t i s a ppropriate h ere t o r efer t o t he c ontext o f t he D ark A ge f inds , f or i t i s d ifficult t o s ustain t he i dea a dvanced b y R olleston a nd a ccepted b y A lcock t hat t he c ontents o f t he c himney h ad o riginally c ollected i n a d epression w hich l ater c ollapsed i nto t he c ave . N o e vidence o f s uch a r ockfall h as b een f orthcoming a nd i t s eems m uch m ore l ikely t hat t he h uman r emains a re

t hose o f

i n s itu/burials,

p erhaps o f l ate p rehistoric d ate .

D ark A ge f inds c ome o nly f rom t he t op o f t he f illed i n s haft a nd f rom t he p latform o utside

t he c ave .

T here

i s

n o e vidence o f D ark A ge u se o f t he

c ave i tself . A g enerous o ffer o f f inancial s upport f rom t he T enby M useum w ill m ake p ossib le a g eophysical s urvey o f t he r idge , t o b e c onducted b y

1 03

r ock wa l l s ed iment e dge l ' Ch i mney

•

s ect ion l i ne

•

l i ne o f o verhang

' ,En trance I l

OX

o verhang ing s ed i ment

S W

E ast Passage

5

L ITTLE HOYLE 1 984 North Cave a nd P latform

F ig . 3 0 . L ittle H oyle 1 984 . S ite p lan s howing l ocation o f e xcavation t renches . F our s ite g rid—points a re s hown : w =3 92/598 ; x=4 0 1/595 ; y= 4 0 1/598 ; z=3 88/598 .

1 04

metres

P late 7 . L ittle H oyle C ave , 1 984 . V iew f rom f loor o f N orth V alley. E ntrance 1 i s c learly s een t o t he l eft ; E ntrance I II i s i n l ine w ith t he s teps ( right o f c entre) .

P late 8 .

L ittle H oyle C ave ,

1 984 .

N PI a re s hown ( see F ig . 3 4) .

1 05

E ntrances

I —III

a nd t renches N P2 a nd

A ndrew D avid ,

w hich w ill t est t he p ossible e xistence o f aD ark A ge d efended

s ettlement o n t his d efensible p romontory . T he t rench o n t he R idge ( R1) y ielded n o a rtificial f eatures b ut d id p roduce a s catter o f f lints , n one d iagnostic , a nd p otsherds o f I ron A ge a nd Medieval d ate . I n P art I I ( Section 4 ) o f t his r eport , E wan C ampbell s ummarizes t he D ark A ge p ottery a nd c omments o n i ts s ignificance .

T he P leistocene S uccession a nd P alaeolithic S ettlement. T he s tratigraphic s uccession o f t he p latform d eposits ( Fig . 3 1 a nd T able 5 s hows a c omplex s edimentology a nd I a m i ndebted t o P eter B ull f or o n-site d iscussion o f t he s equence a nd f or q uartz g rain a nalysis o f s ediment s amples . T he a nalysis o f t he s equence i s s till a t ap rovisional s tage b ut t wo m ain p rocesses s eem t o h ave b een a t w ork : t hermoclastic s cree f ormation :

l ayers

( 3)

U pper S cree

( 5)

S tony S ilt ;

( 15)

? fluvial l ayers

M iddle S cree ;

( 9)

L ower S cree.

( 4)

B uff-Grey S ilt ;

( 6)

P ink C lay ;

( 7)

O range C lay

[ including ( 8) ,

a l ocalized

b lackening o f

( 7)]; T he e vidence f or f luvial d eposition i s i ndicated n ot o nly b y t extural s tudy o f t he s ediments t hemselves , b ut a lso b y t he a pparent c hannelling o f t he L ower S cree ( layer 9 ) o f t he s urfaces o f l ayers ( 7) a nd ( 6 ) , p robably b y w ater f lowing o ut o f E ntrance I I . O ther p ossible , b ut h ere l ess l ikely , m echanisms w ould i nvolve t he s lumping o r s ettling o f d eposits . T he m atrix o f t he M iddle S cree ( layer 1 5) i s a p ink c lay w hich i s a lmost c ertainly d erived f rom l ayer

( 6) a bove .

T he

l ocalized e xtent

o f

t he

M iddle

S cree

( 15) s uggests t hat i t m ay h ave b een a n e vent o f o nly t ransitory s ignificance , p erhaps a r oof f all . L ayer ( 15) , t he S tony S ilt, m ay b e s olifluc :ted s cree . T he P leistocene s tratigraphy r evealed i nside t he c ave ( trench N C1) i s c omposed o f l ayers o f l imestone b reccia w ith a s ilt m atrix , t he l atter p robably p rincipally t he r esult o f s econdary i nfiltration . T he e vidence - f rom S EM a nalysis ( below) - o f t he m odification o f t he s urface t extures o f q uartz g rains b y m arine o r h igh-energy r ivers , i n f our o r f ive N C1 s amples, a lmost c ertainly r eflects n o more t han i nherited c haracteristics w hich m ay d ate b ack t o t he I pswichian i nterglacial ( 125 k a) w hen t he s ea p robably i nvaded t he v alleys o n e ither s ide o f t he c ave . A t p resent

t he c ave-deposits

c annot

b e r elated s tratigraphically t o t he

e xterior p latform d eposits a nd c hronostratigraphy p robably o ffers t he b est p rospect o f c orrelation . •S EM s tudy o f t he s ediments b y P eter B ull h as p rovided i mportant c orroboration o f t he g eneral i nterpretation o f t he s equence a dvanced h ere : h is r eport i s g iven b elow i n P art I I ( Section 1 ) .

1 06

L ITTLE HOYLE CAVE 1 984 T rench NP2 West f ace 0

0 .5

c ave i n ter ior

1 .0 metres

N orth

S ou th

L i

1 . 7 1 9 .00m 0 .D,

'

t e -Z i

s tep

s tep a -

—

. . •• I I E .7 1 i n 4" -

•

I

•L i

—

7 ,5 :

=

=

I

„

= n

Jii=„

I=

=

: I

I

l im it o f e xcavat ion

F ig . 3 1.

L ittle H oyle .

T rench N P2 .

( see F ig . 3 0) .

1 07

W est

f ace .

S tepped s ection a b ,cd

ENVIRONMENT/INTERPRETATION

t y, 4 • r I ( 0 ,0

01 1 4

0 0 4 4. )

0 1 1 4 1

0 4

0 c f ) 0

0 4 E i

a ) a ) C r ) 1 4 a ) 0

Red Cave Earth

1 ( 1

0

L rf,1

a ) •.

g n

1 08

C hronostratigraphy T he a vailable U -series

d ates

( Table

6 ) h ave

b een d etermined b y A ngela R ae

a nd M iro I vanovich o f A ERE H arwell a nd t he "C d ates b y t he "C L aboratory o f t he A ustralian N ational U niversity a t C anberra . S talagmite f ound o n t he s urface o f t he r elic w all d eposits s hows a t wo s tandard d eviation r ange o f 6 7-31 k a a nd s o t he u nderlying c emented b reccia i s l ikely t o b e o f E arly o r M iddle D evensian a ge . c ave,

O f t he f our U -series d ates o n b one f rom i nside t he

t hree a re o n b ear b ones , p robably o f t he s ame a nimal, a nd h ave a

w eighted

m ean

r eindeer ,

a nd

s tandard

d eviation

a lso f rom l ayer ( 3) ,

C omparison w ith

o f

1 7 .3+1 .1

k a ;

a d etermination

o n

c omes o ut a t 1 5 .7+ 1.5 k a .

"C d eterminations

( Table

6 )

s hows

a v ery

c onsistent

s eries o f r esults . T he w eighted m ean , s tandard d eviation a nd 2 s igma r ange o f U -series a nd 1 4 C d ates t aken t ogether i s 1 8 .45+0 .43 k a ( 19 .3117 ,59 k a) . A f ull

a ccount

( forthcoming),

o f

t hese

d ating

r esults

t ogether w ith a s et

o f

may

b e

e qually

f ound

i n R ae

c onsistent

e t. a l.

amino-acid

r acemization m easurements : m eantime I a m i ndebted t o M iro I vanovich f or t he s uggestion t hat t he U -series a nd "C d ates m ay v alidly b e

c ombined .

T he

d ated f auna may t hus j ust p redate t he main L ate D evensian i ce a dvance g enerally d ated b etween c .18 a nd 1 5 k a, o r may b e c oincident with i t ( Shotton 1 977) . T he v ery c lose s imilarity o f t hese r esults t o t he 1 4 C d ate ( on b one )

o f

1 8 .46+0 .34 k a

i n t he n earby

( 25

m iles ,

w ill n ot g o u nnoticed .

( BM-374) f rom 4 0 km)

a nd

t he

' Red L ady '

o f

P aviland

b urial

l ikewise u nglaciated G ower p eninsula

W here t here w as p rey ,

t here m ay h ave b een h unters .

A t i ts m aximum e xtent , t he e dge o f t he D evensian i ce-sheet w ould h ave l ain a bout 2 0 m iles ( 30 km) t o t he n orth ,

e ast o r w est .

E nvironmental e vidence : f auna a nd p ollen T he f aunal e vidence , and

c ave-earths

s tudied b y A ndrew C urrant , b ut

i s

c onsistent

c omes o nly f rom t he

with

t heir

s crees

d esignation,

o n

s edimentological a nd p ollen g rounds, a s h aving f ormed i n c old c limate p eriods . N oteworthy a re s uch s pecies a s r eindeer , a rctic h are a nd t he c ollared a nd N orway l emmings . T he a ssemblage a s aw hole i s c onsistent w ith t he L ate-glacial a ge h ere p roposed o n a rchaeological a nd r adiometric g rounds .

C urrant 's r eport i s g iven b elow i n P art I I

T he r esults o f p ollen a nalysis o f G eraint C oles ,

( Section 2 ) .

t he N orth P latform d eposits,

b y

p resent a n e xtremely d etailed p icture f or w hich r adiometric

d ates a re e agerly a waited .

I t i s l ikely t hat t his s equence s pans m uch o f

t he L ate-glacial p eriod a nd , o n t he b asis o f a nalyses f rom e lsewhere , w ithin t he p eriod f rom c . 13 ,000-10 ,000 b p . T he r esults s how a c omplex p eriod o f f luctuating c limate w ith t hree

s uccessively

s uccessively l ess m ild p hases .

T he s tate o f p reservation o f t he p ollen w as

c older p hases

s eparated

b y

c onsistent w ithin e ach s ample a nd n o e vidence w as n oted w hich w ould s uggest t hat

a ny

a ppreciable

f rom o lder d eposits .

c omponent

o f

i ndividual

F or C oles ' r eport ,

p ollen

s pectra w as

r eworked

s ee P art I I ( Section 3 ) b elow .

C onclusion T he e nvironmental a nd c hronometric e vidence d emonstrate t hat t he s urviving c ave-deposits a t L ittle H oyle s pan s ome 5 0 ,000 y ears a t l east .

1 09

4 Cf l •

•

U

+ 1

r)

0

•

+1

+1

C U 0 Q )

00 — 1 c. . 1 • • • 0 0 0 0 C N C g

C U

C U CU . 2

L c ) C c h c •

•

•

•

• +1 + 1+ 1+1 u ) D c y

1 ; 7 4 . 4 d o

-e

e n

c . ) C . , i

. , 0 c n 4 c . ) 4 i , i c d Z

C l )

•

-e

C I ) C d 4 4 Z

2 • c n " a O a )

" r : i

4 o 4 )

c n • r i N 1 4 )

X

c n ( 1 ) ; 4 4 a ) 4 . )

C 0 4 J c n 0

H c . ) C L ) $ . 4 C l . C . ) c n • f i rg c A C ) a o L i _ i e d e i ) e t r 1 "C : 1 W 4 ) 4 i C U C U o i + U 3 4 1

C U E -4


300mm) a nd w ell r ounded , c hemically a ltered ( smaller g rains 30 ° ) , a nd s how a p reponderance o f d amage o n o nly o ne f ace . In oticed t hat , a s ar ule , i t w as g enerally m ore d ifficult t o p roduce f lat , i nvasive d amage o n e xperimental a rtefacts w ith h igher e dge a ngles. F rom m y e xperiments i t w ould s eem l ikely t hat d amage o n t he S proughton p ieces r esulted f rom w orking m aterials a s h ard o r e ven h arder t han d eer a ntler , a c ategory t hat would c ertainly i nclude a nimal b one . I n i ts u naltered s tate , b one i s h arder t han a ntler a nd I h ave f ound t hat d amage d evelops e ven m ore q uickly a long t he e dges o f e xperimental t ools u sed t o c hop b one . H eavy s calar d amage h as b een n oted o n t he v entral s urfaces o f U pper P alaeolithic t ools s uch a s e nd-scrapers ( Rosenfeld 1 971 , R igaud 1 977) , a nd r eproduced i n b one s craping e xperiments e lsewhere ( Broadbent a nd

k nutsson

1 975) . I n t his r espect i t i s w ell w orth n oting t hat t hree o f t he S proughton e nd-scrapers ( Fig . 3 8 , n os. 1 -3) d isplay v entral e dge-damage s imilar t o t hat d escribed o n M agdalenian e nd-scrapers b y R igaud ( op c it : 2 93 6) . E nd-scrapers o f t his k ind m ay well h ave b een h afted i n h andles , a llowing e xtra l everage a nd f orce t o b e b rought t o b ear o n t he m aterial b eing

worked .

O ther

h eavy-duty t asks,

o r

t asks

i nvolving

t ougher

m aterials , m ay h ave b een a chieved u sing t he e dges o f l arger o bjects s uch a s c ores o r c ore f ragments ; C . K arlin h as n oted e xamples i n Magdalenian a ssemblages

f rom N orthern F rance

( M .

N ewcomer ,

p ers

c omm) .

N one o f

t he

c ores f rom S proughton d isplays o bvious s igns o f u tilization d amage , a lthough o ne b roken p lunging b lade f rom a n o pposed p latform c ore s hows d eep s calariform n otching o n i ts v entral f ace ( Fig. 3 8 , n o. 4 ). I n c onclusion ,

t he p resence o f v ery

f ew

f ormal t ool t ypes i n a l arge

a ssemblage o f s tone a rtefacts i s n ot n ecessarily i ndicative o f t he s cale o f a ctivity a t a p rehistoric s ite . N either d oes i t a lways p rovide a t rue i ndex o f t he f ull d iversity o f t he a ctivities t hat w ere c arried o ut , a s t he S proughton e xample c learly i mplies .

T he e xperiments h ave s hown t hat l arge

u nretouched f lakes a nd b lades m ake e fficient h eavy-duty t ools ,

1 38

w hich c an b e

2

1

3

F ig . 3 8.

S proughton e nd-scrapers w ith s calar d amage ;

4 ,

S proughton

p lunging b lade f ragment f rom o pposed p latform c ore , w ith v entral ( left) . D rawn b y C hristine W ilson ( 1-3) a nd H azel • Martingell ( 4) . 1 :1. 1 19

d amage S cale

u sed

f or

c hopping

t hrough

m aterials

a s

h ard

a s

a ntler .

T hat

t his

w ork

p roduces h ighly c haracteristic e dge-damage s uggests t o m e t hat s imilar i mplements a re l ikely t o o ccur o n s ites w here a ntler a nd b one p rocessing t ook p lace . T he w ider i mplications o f t hese s tudies w ill b e d iscussed e lsewhere i n d ue c ourse . I n t he m eantime , i t w ould b e n o g reat s urprise i f i mplements o f t his s ort w ere a lso t o b e f ound i n av ariety o f d ifferent a ge c ontexts , f or e xample a t N eolithic o r B ronze A ge f lint m ining s ites w here t he p reparation o f a ntler p icks o ccurred.

A cknowledgements. M y s incere t hanks t o H azel M artingell ,

J effrey W allis a nd C hristine W ilson

f or p roducing t he l ine d rawings a t v ery s hort n otice . I a m a lso i ndebted t o C hristopher B ergman , S imon C ollcutt a nd R oger J acobi f or a dding u seful c omments t o t he t ext.

R eferences. B arton ,

R .N .E.

( in p ress) .

L ong B lade T echnology i n S outhern B ritain .

I n B onsall , C . ( ed . . ) . T he M esolithic i n E urope . P roceedings o f t he T hird I nternational S ymposium . E dinburgh : E dinburgh U niversity P ress . B ordes , F . 1 967 .

C onsiderations s ur l a t ypologie e t l es t echniques d ans l e

P algolithique.

Q uartär.

B ordes, F . 1 971.

B d 1 8 : 2 5-55.

E ssai d e p rghistoire e xp &imentale : F abrication d 'un

e pieu d e b ois. Mélanges d e p rghistoire , d 'archeocivilisation , e t d 'ethnologie o fferts ä A ndrg V aragnac . ( Ecole p ractique d es h autes e tudes Vnme s ection , B ordes ,

F .

C entre d e r echerches h istoriques) .

1 974 .

B ruised B lades

a nd F lakes

i n

P aris :

S EVPEN .

t he U pper

P erigordian a t

C orbiac , D ordogne , F rance . I n G hosh , A .K . ( ed .) , P erspectives i n P alaeoanthropology. ( Professor D . S en F estschrift) p p. 1 35138. C alcutta. B rgzillon , M . 1 977 . L a d enomination d es o bjets s upplement ä G allia P rehistoire. P aris : C NRS. B ricker ,

H .M . a nd D avid ,

N .

1 984 .

d e p ierre t aillge .

I Ve

E xcavation o f t he A bri P ataud , L es

E yzies - ( Dordogne) . T he P grigordian V I ( level 3 ) A ssemblage . American S chool o f P rehistoric R esearch B ulletin. 3 4. H arvard : P eabody M useum . B roadbent ,

N .D . a nd K nutsson ,

s crapers.

K .

1 975 .

R esults a nd A pplications.

A n e xperimental a nalysis F ornvännen. 7 0 :

o f

Q uartz

13128 .

C lark , J .G .D . 1 975. T he E arlier S tone A ge S ettlement o f S candinavia . C ambridge : C ambridge U niversity P ress. C lark ,

J .G .D .

a nd T hompson ,

M .W .

1 953 .

T he G roove a nd S plinter T echnique

o f w orking a ntler i n U pper P alaeolithic a nd M esolithic E urope . o f t he P rehistoric S ociety. C ommont , V . 1 908 .

1 9 ( 2) :

P roceedings

1 48160.

L 'industrie d e l 'Age d u R enne d ans l a v al Me S omme .

F ouilles ä B elloy-sur-Somme .

A ssociation F ra iNaise p our l 'Avancement d es

S ciences, C ongr s d e C lermont F errand.

1 40

6 34-643.

F agnart ,

J .P .

1 980 .

L e P algolithique s upgrieur d ans l e b assin d e l a S omme

d 'aprgs l es r echerches d e V ictor C ommont . P icardie. 7 : 1 9-32. F agnart ,

J .P .

1 984 .

C ahiers a rchgologiques d e

L e P algolithique s upgrieur d ans l e n ord d e l a F rance e t

l e b assin d e l a S omme . T hese d e D octorat S ciences e t T echniques d e L ille.

d 'Universitg ,

U niversitg d es

G odwin , H . 1 977 . Q uaternary H istory o f t he B ritish F lora . I n S hotton , F .W . ( ed . ) . B ritish Q uaternary S tudies . R ecent A dvances . O xford : C larendon P ress. MacGregor , A .R . 1 985 . B one , A ntler, I vory a nd H orn . T he T echnology o f S keletal M aterials S ince t he R oman P eriod. L ondon : C room H elm . O hnuma , K . a nd B ergman , C . 1 982 . o f f laking m ode . 1 61170.

E xperimental s tudies i n t he d etermination

B ulletin o f t he I nstitute o f A rchaeology, L ondon .

1 9 :

R igaud, A . 1 977. A nalyses t ypologique e t t echnologique d es g rattoirs m agdalgniens d e l a G arenne ä S aint-Marcel ( Indre .) G allia P rghistoire . 2 01 -43. R oche , H . a nd T ixier , J . 1 982 . P raehistorica B elgica. 2 : 6 5-76.

L es

a ccidents

d e

t aille .

S tudia

R ose , J . 1 976 . T he d ate o f t he b uried c hannel d eposits a t S proughton . E ast A nglian A rchaeology . R eport N o. 3 : 1 1-13. R osenfeld ,

A .

s crapers.

1 971 .

T he e xamination o f u se m arks o n s ome M agdalenian e nd

T he B ritish M useum Q uarterly.

S caife , R .G . 1 982 .

3 5 :

1 76182.

L ate D evensian a nd E arly F landrian v egetation c hanges i n

S outhern E ngland . I n B ell, M . a nd L imbrey , S . ( eds .) , A rchaeological A spects o f Woodland E cology . p p . 5 7- 7 4 . B AR I nternational S eries N o . . 1 46. O xford. S tuart,

A .J .

1 982 .

P leistocene V ertebrates i n t he B ritish I sles .

L ondon :

L ongman. T aute , W . 1 968 . D ie S tielspitzen-Gruppen i m n ordlichen M itteleuropa : e in B eitiag z ur K enntnis d er s päten A ltsteinzeit. ( Fundamenta A 5) . C ologne : B öhlau . T ixier , J . , I nizan , M .L . , a nd R oche , H . 1 980 . T aillge 1 . T erminologie e t t echnologie . W ymer ,

J .J .

1 976 .

A nglian A rchaeology.

A L ong B lade

I ndustry

R eport N o. 3 :

P rghistoire d e l a P ierre

V albonne : f rom

C REP .

S proughton ,

S uffolk .

E ast

1 10.

Wymer , J .J ., J acobi , R .M . a nd R ose , J . 1 975. L ate D evensian a nd E arly F landrian B arbed P oints f rom S proughton , S uffolk . P roceedings o f t he P rehistoric S ociety .

4 1 :

2 35-241 .

1 41

T HE

A PPLICATION

O F

S CANNING

E LECTRON

MICROSCOPY

T O

T APHONOMIC

AND

A RCHAEOLOGICAL P ROBLEMS. J ill C od k I ntroduction. T he l iterature o f t he l ate P leistocene a nd e arly H olocene p eriod i s n otable f or i ts f aunal s tudies . T he p rimary c oncern o f t hese s tudies i s t o s uggest i nterpretations o f s ite f unction a nd e conomic a ctivities r elated t o a nimal p rocurement a nd t he p rocessing o f c arcasses ' . T heir v alidity d epends e ntirely o n t he a bility o f a rchaeologists t o a nswer q uestions s uch a s h ow f ar t he s pecies p resent r eflect t he c ontemporary c ommunity o f a nimals , h ow t heir b ones c ame t o a ccumulate a nd whether a nd b y what a gencies t hese a ccumulations h ave b een m odified s ince d eposition . E fforts t o a nswer s uch q uestions a re u sually b ased o n c ontextual i nformation r ecorded d uring e xcavation . I f s uch i nformation i s i nadequate o r d oes n ot e xist , t here i s a t endency t o i gnore e ither t he p roblem o r t he c ollection . O ne way o f i mproving o n t his s ituation i s t o o btain t aphonomic e vidence f rom t he b ones t hemselves a nd t his i s p ossible b ecause t he s tructure o f b one m akes i t p articularly s usceptible t o a lteration . A s p art o f a t aphonomic p roject p ursued i n c ollaboration w ith D r . P eter A ndrews o f t he B ritish Museum ( Natural H istory) , t he a uthor h as d ocumented a lteration p roduced b y a w ide v ariety o f k nown c auses o n r ecent b one b y u sing a s canning e lectron m icroscope ( S M) a nd h as s hown , i n a greement w ith S hipman ( 1981a a nd 1 981b ) , t hat t he m icroscopic c haracteristics o f a ltered b one s urfaces a re d iagnostic o f t he m odifying a gent . A r eview o f t he d istinguishing c haracteristics o f m arks

e xamined

t o

d ate ,

t he

m ethod

o f

d ocumenting

t hem

a nd

t he

r esults

o btained f rom p reliminary s tudies o f a rchaeological m aterial i s p resented b elow . I t s hows t hat t he t echnique o f c omparative a nalysis u sing a S EM o pens u p t he p ossibility o f r etrieving t aphonomic e vidence r elevant t o t he i nterpretation o f s ite f unction a nd h uman a ctivities f rom b oth r ecently e xcavated a nd m useum c ollections .

T he c omparative m aterial. F igure 3 9 p rovides a f ramework f or t he a nalysis o f b oth a ncient a nd m odern t aphonomic e vents .

I t i solates t he s tages a t w hich v arious m odifying a gents

m ay a ffect a s keleton a nd m odify t he b ones a t a nd f ollowing t he d eath o f a n a nimal . I n t he c ourse o f t his s tudy , e very e ffort h as b een m ade t o o btain e xamples o f b ones a ltered b y t he k inds o f m odifying a gents o perative a t e ach s tage i n o rder t o p rovide a d atabase o f c omparative m aterial f or u se i n t he s tudy o f a rchaeological c ollections . H owever , t here i s a n o bvious a nd i nevitable b ias t owards t he p re- a nd p ostburial s tages w hich i s i mpossible t o c orrect e xcept b y c ontrolled e xperimentation , which c ould n ot b e e ncompassed i n a p roject o f t his k ind . T he s pecimens s tudied h ave e ither b een s pecially c ollected , e xperimentally p roduced o r a cquired f rom w ell d ocumented c ollections

i n t he B ritish M useum

n ow k ept t ogether a s at aphonomic c ollection . a s f ollows : 1 .

t oothmarks m ade b y c arnivores a nd r odents

1 43

( Natural H istory) .

T hey a re

T he s pecimens m ay b e g rouped

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I t i s c lear t hat ,

f or w hatever r eason , t hese s pots w ere a voided w hen d iscarded s tone w as b eing d umped . T hey m ay h ave b een s leeping -p laces , f or e xample , o r p laces w here o ther a ctivities o ccurred i n w hich t he p resence o f ( large) s tones w ould h ave b een a n uisance . I n o ne p lace ,

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c ourse p urely s peculative , b ut t his a rrangement i s c ertainly r eminiscent o f s everal e xamples i llustrated b y B inford ( 1983) o f c onfigurations o f s tones u sed t o k eep h ides o n t he g round f or d rying . An e xample m entioned b y B inford i s am odern s ite o f t he N unamiut i n t he K ongumuvuk V alley , w here t he s tones w ere a rranged mostly i n h alf c ircles . T his s ite was a h unting s tand , u tilized d uring t he f all m igration o f c aribou , a nd a fter t he h unt t he s kins were p repared o n t he s pot . I n p articular , t he l ocation o f t his ' structure ' a t O ldeholtwolde , c learly s et a part f rom a ctivity a reas d ocumented b y t he p resence o f m any f lint t ools ,

s eems t o b e a n a rgument i n

f avour o f t his p ossible i nterpretation.

T he s tones I n a ll a t O ldenholtwolde , s ome 1 ,126 s tones h ave b een r ecovered w ith a t otal w eight o f c . 4 6 k ilos . T he w eight o f a ll t he f lints a ccounts f or a f urther c . 4 k ilos . S ince we a re m issing a p art o f t he m aterial o riginally p resent , p erhaps a s m uch a s o ne s ixth ( this w as r emoved b y ad igging m achine p rior t o t he d iscovery o f t he s ite) , i t i s c lear t hat a t otal w eight o f s tones a nd f lint a pproaching 6 0 k ilos m ust h ave b een c arried i n t o t he s ite. A s w e h ave a lready s een , m ost o f t he s tones a s f ound a re s mall f ragments o f o riginally l arger o nes . t he p eriod o f o ccupation ,

A part f rom f ragmentation t hat o ccurred d uring many s tones were a lso b roken l ater b y f rost

s hattering . T hese f rost-shattered f ragments w ere a lways l ying v ery c lose t o e ach o ther , a nd s uch f ractures were n ot t aken i nto a ccount f or t he f ollowing d escription . A ll

s tones

l arger

t han

2 .5

c m

w ere

s orted

i nto

s everal

b road

p etrological g roups ( by G .J . B oekschoten ; F ig . 5 0) . S andstones a re b est r epresented , m ostly D ala s andstone . T his t ype o f r ock i s o ften p resent i n t he l ocal b oulder c lay i n t he f orm o f s labs , s ince i t p ossesses n atural b edding p lanes a nd o bviously t he H amturgian p eople s elected i t b ecause o f t his p henomenon . A t t he s ite o f O ldeholtwolde c . 6 7% o f t he s tones c onsist o f s andstone , while n ormally i n t his r egion i n b oulder c lay s andstone a ccounts o n a verage f or c . 3 5% ( range 1 9-49%) , a ccording t o S chuddebeurs ( e .g . 1 980/81) . I t i s a lso c lear t hat t he i nhabitants i n m any c ases f urther s plit t he s labs , a s c ollected o ut o f t he b oulder c lay , s o a s t o o btain t hin f lat s tones w ith a m ean t hickness o f o nly 2

c m.

I t c an b e

s hown f rom o ur a ttempts a t c onjoining t he s labs t hat t his w ork m ust u sually h ave b een d one a t t he s pot w here t he s tones w ere c ollected : w e f ound o nly a f ew e xamples o f s labs t hat f it o n t op o f e ach o ther , a nd e ven i n t hose c ases t he s plitting w as n ot n ecessarily c arried o ut o n t he s ite . I n t otal ,

2 7 o riginal s tone s labs were r econstructed m ore o r l ess

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T his w ork w as d one b y t he

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a uthor , a s p art o f h is a dvanced s tudies i n p rehistory . I n a ddition , a f ew u nbroken s tone s labs w ere p resent . T he m aximum l engths o f a ll t hese s labs a re i ndicated i n F ig . 5 1 . A s c an b e s een , n one i s s maller t han 8 c m , w hile

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O LDEHOLT WOLDE,

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P hoto s howing o ne o f t he r econstructed s tone s labs ( consisting

o f D ala s andstone) f rom O ldeholtwolde . 2 s labs f itting o n t op o f e ach o ther . a nd w eighs c a . 2 ,564 g rams .

T his i s o ne o f t he f ew e xamples o f T he r econstruction h as 4 1 e lements ,

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2 03

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p iece o f s andstone i s a ctually o ne o f t he f ew e xamples w here r efit o n t op o f e ach o ther ( see P late 2 9 a nd F ig. 5 2).

2 s labs

d o

F ig . 5 1 a lso i ndicates t he maximum l engths o f a ll t he s tones a s e ncountered i n s itu d uring t he e xcavation , c onjoinable f rost-shattered g roups b eing r egarded a s o ne s tone . F rom t his f igure t he c ontinual f ragmentation o f t he s labs i s v ery o bvious : c . 7 0% o f a ll t he s tones h ave m ax . l engths u nder 3 c m ( the s mall c rosses i n t his f igure i ndicate v ery l ow f requencies) .

T he f ragmentation m ust h ave t aken p lace d uring t he p eriod o f

o ccupation , a nd i t i s e vident t hat m ost o f i t r esulted f rom t he u se o f t he o riginal s labs i n t he h earth , t he a ctual c ause b eing t he r epeated a lternation o f h eating a nd c ooling. E specially i n t he c entral p it o f t he h earth a g reater p roportion o f s omewhat l arger s tones i s p resent ( though t here a re a lso m any s mall s tones) . T his c an b e e xplained b y t he s upposition t hat t he c entral p it w as c leaned o ut r egularly , p ossibly e very d ay , s o t hat s mall f ragments t ended t o e nd u p o utside t he c entral p art o f t he h earth . T he

l argest r econstructed s lab ,

a nd F ig . 5 2 ,

i llustrated a s a n e xample i n P late 2 9

c onsists o f 2 s labs f itting o n t op o f e ath o ther .

I n t otal ,

t here a re 4 1 f ragments b uilt i n t his r econstruction , i ts weight i s 2 .6 k ilos . T he s patial d istribution o f t he 4 1 c omponents i s i ndicated i n F igure

5 3

( stars

i ndicate

v ery

s mall

f ragments) .

T hree

f ragments

w ere

p resent i n t he c entral p it o f t he h earth , while t he o thers w ere f ound s cattered o ver t he s ite . S ome l arger f ragments b ecame c omponents o f t he p ossible h ide-drying s tructure i n t he s outhern p art o f t he s ite ( see a bove). A part f rom t he f lat s tones ,

5 m ore o r l ess r ound s tones w ere p resent .

F our o f t hem s eem t o h ave b een u sed a s h ammer s tones .

T heir w eights a re

6 49 , 6 21 , 5 13 a nd 1 74 g rams . O ne o f t hese s tones ( the o ne t hat w eighs 5 13 g rams) p ossesses a s moothed s urface , p robably a s a r esult o f r ubbing w ith t he s tone o ver s ome l arge s urface ( Plate 3 0) . T he f ifth r ounded s tone i s t he s mall q uartz b oulder , f ound i n t he r ing o f s tones t o t he N o f t he h earth , w hich w as p ossibly u sed a s a ' cooking-stone ' ( see a bove). I mmediately t o t he E o f t he h earth c . 1 00 v ery s mall r ound s tones w ere f ound i n a n arrow c oncentration . T he s izes o f t hese r ange i n g eneral f rom 2 11 mm , t he m ost c ommon s ize b eing a round 5 mm . T here a re 2 b igger s tones p resent , w ith d iameters o f 1 .4 a nd 2 .7 c m . S ome o f t hese s tones s how g loss; b ut i t i s v ery d ifficult t o b e s ure t hat t he g loss c ould n ot h ave b een p roduced n aturally . E specially t he f act t hat t hey w ere f ound i n a n arrow c oncentration n ear t he h earth , m akes i t p ossible t o i nterpret t hese s mall s tones a s g astroliths ( see B ottema , 1 975 ; P rice e t . a l . 1 974) . T hey c ould r epresent o ne o r m ore b irds k illed b y t he H amburgian h unters . A t t he H amburgian s ites o f M eiendorf a nd S tellmoor s ome b ones o f b irds were r ecovered ( see. e .g. R ust , 1 943).

F lint a rtefacts A part f rom t he c harcoal f ragments a nd t he s tones , t he f inds c onsist o f af ew p ieces o f o chre ( including o ne l ump o f r ed o chre w ith a d iameter o f c . c m t hat h as t hree r ubbed s urfaces) a nd c . 1 0 ,400 f lint a rtefacts.

2 05

16

P late 3 0 .

P hoto s howing t he s tone w ith a r ubbed s urface .

2 06

A ccording t o t he f irst c ount ( before t he r efitting w ork ) , t here a re o nly 1 ,668 f lint a rtefacts l arger t han 1 .5 c m p resent, o f which 3 42 w ere c lassified a s ' tools ' . A t l east t wo s pecimens p ossess h eavily r ounded t ips ,

t hat m ust h ave o riginated a s a r esult o f s evere a brasion .

T hey a re

f or t he m eantime i nterpreted a s p ossible f ire-lighters ( in c ombination w ith p yrites) . I t i s h oped t hat f unctional a nalysis b y E .H . M oss ( London U niversity) w ill c larify t his matter . Among t he r emaining ' splinters ' ( more t han 8 ,730) , t here a re 1 36 p robable f ragments o f t ools ( e .g . b rokeno ff b orer-tips , b urin e dges , f ragments o f p oints , e tc . ) . M ore t han 3 ,550 p ieces a re s maller t han 0 .5 c m . T hese Im icrosplinters ' p resumably o riginated l argely a s a p roduct o f t ool r etouching . M any s plinters a nd o ther w aste p roducts o f f lintworking w ere f ound l ying c lose t ogether , i n s everal s mall ' concentrations ' , m ostly 2 0 -3 0 c m i n d iameter , i n a w ide c ircle

a round

t he

h earth

( see

F ig .

5 4) .

T hese

c oncentrations

a re

i nterpreted a s d umps l eft b y o ne o r m ore s eated f lintworkers . S everal o f t hese s mall c oncentrations o ccur i n p airs , l ying c lose t ogether . P robably o ne o f t he l egs o r f eet o f t he f lintworker s eparated t he t wo c oncentrations ( see N ewcomer a nd S ieveking , 1 980) . T he f act t hat s o m any t iny c hips a re s till p resent a t t he s ite , a nd t heir t endency t o o ccur i n s uch c ompact c oncentrations , m akes i t e vident t hat n o m ajor s ubsequent d isturbance o f t he f inds h as t aken p lace , n ot e ven b y w ind a ction , w hich c ould e asily h ave r emoved t he a ngular ' micro-splinters% w hich a re o ften n o l arger t han t he s and g rains b etween w hich t hey o ccur . T he f lint a rtefacts c an b e r oughly d ivided a s f ollows ( provisional c ounts m ade b efore t he r efitting w ork):

s plinters (