The Beedings Palaeolithic Survey, Pulborough

Project type: Excavation, Palaeolithic and Geoarchaeological Services

Upper Palaeolithic research excavations were undertaken in 2008 at Beedings, West Sussex. The project, directed Matt Pope (ASE), focussed on anomalies revealed by earlier geophysical surveys which had been carried out by Brighton & Hove Archaeological Society at the request of Caroline Wells. The trenches were placed across areas of lower resistance which proved to be fissures in the underlying Lower Greensand (Hythe Beds) rock formations.

Two trenches showed only superficial deposits above geological bedding structures and upper layers contained some Mesolithic flint work and a single piece of Samian ware. The principal and largest trench revealed a geological feature of a different character, a 3 metre-wide fissure more than 3 metres deep filled with fine grained sediments of a loessic nature. This feature differed in that it contained a small but significant assemblage of blue-patinated, sediment-polished flint which includes large flake elements, a scatter of tiny spalls of flint and part of a large blade (of non-Mesolithic character). The tiny spalls suggest that this fissure fill contains flint-working traces either in-situ or derived from the immediate locality without much lateral movement.

Whilst small, the assemblage presented some surprises. Aside from the blade element, which could perhaps sit happily within the original Beedings Upper Palaeolithic leaf-point assemblage (Jacobi 2007), the additional material is of a quite different character. The deeper patina may indicate a greater age and different depositional history, and while technologically ambiguous has greater affinity with the Late Middle Palaeolithic (LMP) technology of late Neanderthals hunting groups than with the Early Upper Palaeolithic technologies traditionally associated with anatomically modern humans. An initial comparison of these pieces with material form the LMP site of Oldbury, Kent confirms some broad technological similarities and almost identical patination, which is significant considering that Oldbury sits adjacent to fissured beds of the Kentish Greensand and close to the Ightham fissure which produced a rich Pleistocene faunal assemblage in the 19 th Century.

Consideration of two other previous finds from the Beedings area also suggests a Neanderthal presence. A single artefact, recorded as having come from the hill, is in the original Beedings assemblage. This artefact sits uncomfortably alongside the Upper Palaeolithic artefacts in that it bears a blue-white patina and technologically seems to be a large side scraper, manufactured on a large flake with indications of working at the tip of the piece. Typologically it is a piece which would sit better with a Late Middle Palaeolithic assemblage; and yet until the 2007 excavations there had been no hint of further LMP artefacts from the hill. These finds support the idea that Neanderthals, prior to the activities of early Upper Palaeolithic hunters, were also occupying the hill. The continuity of the use of the hill, seen also in the substantial quantities of Mesolithic flintwork from the site, supports Jacobi's suggestion that the hill offered a superb location for game observation posts or hunting camps.

The newly excavated finds may be of national significance. Not only do they indicate the survival of both Middle and Upper Palaeolithic material on the hill, we think that these assemblages cover the replacement period from the last Neanderthal hunters of the British Isles and incoming early “modern” peoples. Further analysis and field work is now planned for 2009. This work, to be carried out by the Archaeology South East and the Boxgrove Project in the coming year, will determine whether the fissure at Beedings is unique or is pointing the way to a hitherto untapped component of the British ice-age record.

Project Officer: Matt Pope
Clients: English Heritage / Institute of Archaeology
Project type: Excavation, Palaeolithic and Geoarchaeological Services