Introduction
Evidence suggests that human populations in northern Europe expanded significantly from around 500,000 years ago, with an increase in the number and size of sites. By this time, technological advances may have allowed humans to become better adapted to northern environments.
Sites can be divided into:
- Those associated with the now extinct Bytham River, pre-dating the Anglian Glaciation that occurred around 450,000 years ago
- Those post-dating the Anglian Glaciation
Together the sites form an unparalleled record for understanding these new technologies.
The Breckland of Suffolk and Norfolk has a remarkably rich record for the post-Anglian period and, importantly, includes sites with excellent preservation of environmental data.One such site is at East Farm, Barnham, where new excavations have taken place since 2013, run in part as a student training school in conjunction with Leiden University.
Barnham
The site at East Farm is in an old clay pit, known since the turn of the twentieth century to contain Lower Palaeolithic artefacts. Earlier excavations were conducted between 1989 and 1994, providing artefact assemblages and floral and faunal remains.
The environmental evidence suggests a slow-moving stream surrounded by grassland and deciduous vegetation. The channel eventually dried out and the deposits and artefact assemblages date to the Hoxnian Interglacial, around 400,000 years ago
Barnham Excavations: Main Page
