Category: Barnham Excavations

Articles and blog posts focused on the palaeolithic excavations at East Farm, Barnham.

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400,000-year-old Neanderthal Fire-Making Technology

Rob Davis explains how excavations by the British Museum at Barnham, Suffolk, have uncovered evidence for arguably the most important innovation in human history, the ability to make fire. 

Looking back through history and prehistory, it is clear how fundamental fire has been to the development of human civilisation. Great changes in human existence have had fire at the heart of them. The agricultural revolution required fire to turn crops into food, creating the surpluses that enabled the first towns, cities and monuments. The Copper Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, all dependant on fire to extract metal from ore and shape and combine it to make tools, weapons, jewellery and more. The industrial revolution and space age, powered by combustion. Fire is not just utilitarian, it is prominent in belief systems across the world, both extant and historically documented. Prometheus, Vesta’s flame, Shiva the divine cosmic dancer, the burning bush, Sacred Fire, the Holy Spirit, incense, funeral pyres; fire emblematic of and a conduit to the divine. We are a species that has harnessed and exploited the transformative power of fire, not just to survive and thrive on this planet, but also to make sense of the world around us.

The Barnham evidence

sparks being produced by striking iron pyrite with a flint handaxe
Artist’s reconstruction of sparks being produced by striking iron pyrite with a flint handaxe. (Credit: Craig Williams, Illustrator, Department of Europe and Prehistory)

Since 2013, a team of archaeologists and scientists from the British Museum, Natural History Museum, Queen Mary University of London, UCL, University of Liverpool and Leiden University has been investigating the evidence for early fire-use at the Lower Palaeolithic site at Barnham, Suffolk. The evidence shows that the ability to create and control fire is not restricted to our own species, but a technology shared with other types of human that inhabited this world 400,000 years ago. Excavation of an ancient land surface has revealed an abundance of burnt materials associated with stone tools made and discarded by early Neanderthals. A patch of heated sediment, reddened like fired clay, is the remnants of a Neanderthal campfire. Adjacent to this is a cluster of artefacts, including fire-cracked handaxes, residues of fire-side activities. Most important of all, fragments of iron pyrite, brought to the site by Neanderthals for one purpose, to light fires by striking the pyrite with flint to create sparks. This is an extraordinary discovery, pushing back the earliest evidence for this technology by some 350,000 years.

Fire and early humans

Mastering fire is arguably one of the most important developments in human evolution. It seems likely that there is a very long history of human interaction with fire over more than a million years. It has been envisaged as a three stage process, beginning with foraging and scavenging in burnt landscapes following forest fires. The second stage involved the harvesting of wildfires, which were an occasional and unpredictable resource in the landscape. Embers collected in this way would have to be transported and then maintained, and once extinguished it became a waiting game for the next lightning strike. It is only with the third stage, the ability to create fire, that it could become a reliable addition to daily life. The knowledge of how to make fire enabled habitual use, which ultimately led to a reliance on fire for survival.

Artist’s reconstruction of an early human demonstrating the use of iron pyrite with flint to create sparks and light a fire
Artist’s reconstruction of an early human demonstrating the use of iron pyrite with flint to create sparks and light a fire. (Credit: Craig Williams, Illustrator, Department of Europe and Prehistory)

For early human hunter-gatherers, fire provided warmth and light and safety, a means to cook food to remove toxins and tenderise meat. It enabled humans to spread and thrive in colder, harsher environments, to explore subterranean spaces. Some of these benefits likely impacted biological and social evolution too. Cooking widened the range of available food sources and made food more readily digestible, which may have led to changes in the gut, but also freed up energy for development of the brain. Campfires acted as social hubs, focal points for interactions. Critically, fire extended the waking day by several hours. Humans live in complex social groups that require a significant daily time investment to maintain relationships. Socialising by firelight freed up daylight hours for hunting and gathering, collecting resources and making tools. It provided a setting for intense socialisation and development of language, storytelling and myth-making. With fire, humans could both feed and navigate larger, more complex societies.

The archaeology of early fire-use

Artist’s reconstruction of a group of early humans gathered around a fire after dusk
Artist’s reconstruction of a group of early humans gathered around a fire after dusk. (Credit: Craig Williams, Illustrator, Department of Europe and Prehistory)

There is still much we don’t know. To what extent is the evidence from Barnham representative of technological practises across the Palaeolithic world 400,000 years ago? Did other large-brained human species, such as the Denisovans in eastern Eurasia or early Homo sapiens in Africa, also light their own fires? And if so, did they invent fire-lighting technology independently, or adopt it through exchange of ideas and behaviours between human groups, or was it inherited from a common ancestor? How did the use of fire by early humans vary through time and space? 

The problem is that fire-use rarely preserves well in the archaeological record and, prior to the development of hearth structures, it is notoriously hard to demonstrate. Ash and charcoal can easily be blown or washed away, and baked sediments can be eroded and dispersed. Heated artefacts survive but it is often difficult to rule-out incidental burning in a wildfire. Many of our early sites preserve evidence of activities related to resource collection, tool production or butchery, situations that wouldn’t have necessarily called for the immediate use of fire. Domestic sites located in sheltered parts of the landscape outside of major river valleys or coastal plains are potentially underrepresented in the archaeological record. The evidence is patchy, ambiguous and hard to interpret.

In light of these challenges, it is the preservation of the evidence at Barnham that is exceptional, whereas the technology itself may have been widespread 400,000 years ago. Indeed, there are other sites of similar age that also provide evidence of fire-use in the form of baked sediments, charcoal and associated heated artefacts and bones. Notable sites include Beeches Pit, located just 10 km to the southwest of Barnham in Suffolk, Menez-Dregan and Terra Amata in France, and Gruta da Aroeira in Portugal. Together, these sites point to an increase in the importance of fire to early humans between 500,000 and 400,000 years ago. Barnham provides an explanation, the advent of fire-making.  

The transformative power of fire

Through time, humans would come to find ways to use fire to advance other technologies. The first archaeologically visible applications occur from 300,000 years ago. The rare survival of wooden artefacts at Schöningen, Germany, show the use of fire to harden spear tips. Tools begin to be hafted at this time, with evidence for the use of fire to produce birch bark tar for use as a glue for attaching stone blades and points to handles. At Qesem Cave, Israel, there is the earliest evidence for controlled heating of stone to improve its qualities for tool production. There was likely a multitude of other uses that do not leave an imprint on the archaeological record. Much later came ceramics and metals. Bit by bit, humans found new ways to utilise the power of fire to change the properties of materials and start to transform the world around them. 

Many aspects of early human day-to-day life are alien to most of us in the modern world. Few people today have made tools from stone or wood, foraged for nuts, roots and tubers, or hunted animals with spears and butchered them with stone tools. We do know fire, though. Sitting round a campfire, listening to the chatter and laughter of our companions while staring at the flickering flames, it feels timeless, primeval. This is a profoundly human experience, which connects us across deep time to early human societies, be they Neanderthal or Homo sapiens or any other fire-using species, and in doing so it speaks to their unmistakable humanity.

Further Reading

Davis, R.J, Hatch, M., Hoare, S., Lewis, S.G., Lucas C., Parfitt, S.A., Bello, S.M., Lewis, M., Mansfield, J., Najorka,J., O’Connor, S., Peglar, S., Sorensen, A., Stringer, C.B., Ashton, N.M. (2025). Earliest evidence of making fire. Nature.

Project team

Nick Ashton, Silvia Bello, Rob Davis, Marcus Hatch, Sally Hoare, Mark Lewis, Simon Lewis, Claire Lucas, Jordan Mansfield, Jens Najorka, Simon O’Connor, Simon Parfitt, Sylvia Peglar, Andrew Sorensen and Chris Stringer

With thanks to…

Mareike Stahlschmidt, Christopher Jeans, Will Lord and Craig Williams 

Duke of Grafton, Matthew Hawthorne, David Heading, Edward Heading, Richard Heading, David Switzer, Luke Dale, Xin Ding, Sophie Hunter, Dylan Jones, Izzy Klipsch, Murat Özturan, Aaron Rawlinson, Ian Taylor and Tudor Bryn Jones. 

The research has been funded by the Calleva Foundation.

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The Quest for Fire

Nick Ashton explains how four years of forensic investigations at Barnham in Suffolk demonstrate the world’s oldest evidence of making fire at 400,000 years ago.

Discovery

team starting to plan the strategy for excavation
Quarry cut in foreground revealing reddened cay beneath the black ancient soil. The team is starting to plan the strategy for excavation. (Photo: Rob Davis)

The first inkling that I had of something unusual was a small patch of reddened clay, almost terracotta in colour. It was a sunny afternoon in June 2021, and the seasonal excavation was midway through the three weeks, running like clockwork in the overgrown former claypit. I was surplus to requirements, so decided to investigate a quiet, shaded part of the site. The min-digger had provided a tantalising glimpse of a dark ancient soil in 2019, but with Covid in 2020, we hadn’t had time to investigate further. With half a thought for a quiet nap in the cool of the large oak, I instead picked up my spade and trowel, clearing the area of two seasons of leaf-litter and re-found the patch of dark organic-rich clay – the soil of an ancient landsurface.

Previous excavations of this 5 cm thick dark clay had revealed very little archaeology, but it marked much richer pond-edge sediments that lay underneath, containing flint flakes and tools, left by early Neanderthals over 400,000 years ago. A lone handaxe had been found on the landsurface in 1991, but some 15 m to the west. 

Trowelling down to the surface of the clay, revealed an area a metre across and on the front edge, the cut made by clay-pit workers over a century earlier. It was in cleaning down this steep edge that the reddened clay was first revealed, with dark clay above and below. My immediate thought was that the reddening indicated heating. I waited until the end of the afternoon when colleagues wandered over to take a look – a few raised eyebrows, gentle nods and the understated comment ‘intriguing’. We all shared that wonderful feeling of being on the threshold of an important discovery.

Excavation and proof

Having a hunch of early fire-use is not good enough, so it took four years to convincingly demonstrate that the heating was caused by humans, not part of a natural fire. Unfortunately, archaeology involves destruction, so trying to understand the extent of the reddened clay involved a lot of head-scratching to ensure we understood the form of the structure, as well as leaving enough in place for future researchers. We were fortunate, as one of our team was Claire Lucas, a brilliant excavator with much experience on similar sites in France. Tentative steps led to excavating diagonally opposed corners giving us a clear idea of the size – about 50 cm across – and enough sediment for analysis. In fact, quarrying in the 1900s had probably removed over half the structure.

Excavation of a Neanderthal fireplace at Barnham
Excavation of a Neanderthal fireplace at Barnham, Suffolk, UK. (Photo: Jordan Mansfield)

So how could we distinguish between natural and human burning? First, we had to demonstrate that the reddened clay had been heated and, if so, was it in situ? Fortunately, we now have a raft of geochemical tests and specialists in France, Germany, Austria and Britain who could help. Changes in the mineral structure of the clay showed heating to over 700 °C, while microscopic examination indicated that the sediment was in place, and not moved. Furthermore, tests suggested not just one burning event but repeated burning in the same place. The conclusion was clear – we had a campfire, or hearth, that had been used by people on several occasions.

But where were the humans? Excavation of surrounding areas revealed a concentration of flint artefacts around the campfire. Remarkably, this included four heat-shattered handaxes that gave us a direct link between people and the campfire. This matched up with four other sites in Britain, France and Spain with evidence of fire use, also dated to around 400,000 years ago. But there was one more surprise.

fire-cracked handaxe found next to a Neanderthal fireplace
A fire-cracked handaxe found next to a Neanderthal fireplace at Barnham, Suffolk, UK. (Photo: Jordan Mansfield)

Making fire

Human fire-use goes back deep in time (over a million years), perhaps by benefiting from wildfires and naturally cooked game. The next step was recovering embers to create campfires, but the critical turning point was the ability to make fire. From this point on, humans were no longer reliant on natural events but could regularly use fire where and when they wanted. When was this breakthrough? Sites in northern France had evidence of late Neanderthals making fire at 50,000 years, but a new piece of evidence from Barnham shows it to be considerably earlier.

fragment of iron pyrite
A fragment of iron pyrite found on a 400,000 year old land surface at Barnham, Suffolk, UK. (Photo: Jordan Mansfield)

In 2017 we had excavated an area of the landsurface towards the eastern end of the site that contained concentrations of heated flint. Here, we had struggled to demonstrate human fire-use. But in among the heated flint, we had found a tiny piece of iron pyrite. It is well known that pyrite can be used to strike flint to create sparks to light tinder, but we also know that it occurs naturally in chalkland areas, such as this part of Suffolk. Almost ignored for several years, we puzzled over the pyrite again, and in fact found a second piece, but how could we link the pyrite to making fire? It took a while, but a solution emerged.

I’ve worked with Simon Lewis from 1988, since when he has worked on the geological aspects of our joint projects, many in this area of Suffolk, the Breckland. Part of the work has involved identifying stones in the river and glacial deposits of the area to understand the processes behind their deposition – rivers bringing quartz and quartzites from the Midlands, or ice sheets with sandstone from Yorkshire. In total he has identified 121,000 stones from 26 sites in the Breckland – a fantastic database for checking on the prevalence of pyrite. We checked the old record sheets, then physically checked the samples from around Barnham – not a single piece of pyrite had been found through 36 years of systematic fieldwork. In other words, pyrite is incredibly rare in the Breckland. The conclusion is that humans brought pyrite to Barnham with the intention of making fire – the earliest evidence anywhere in the world.

Intelligent Neanderthals

There are some incredible long-term implications of fire-making which have been written about elsewhere – improved diet and digestion through cooking, enlargement of the brain and the social importance – but it also provides insights into the knowledge and intelligence of early Neanderthals. Making fire is not easy. They had the knowledge of where to collect pyrite, how to strike it against flint to create sparks, and the properties of effective tinder – some dried fungi can be used – to create fire. Once discovered, this knowledge had to be transferred to the next generations, perhaps around the embers of a dwindling fire.  

Further Reading

Davis, R.J, Hatch, M., Hoare, S., Lewis, S.G., Lucas C., Parfitt, S.A., Bello, S.M., Lewis, M., Mansfield, J., Najorka,J., O’Connor, S., Peglar, S., Sorensen, A., Stringer, C.B., Ashton, N.M. (2025). Earliest evidence of making fire. Nature.

Project team

Nick Ashton, Silvia Bello, Rob Davis, Marcus Hatch, Sally Hoare, Mark Lewis, Simon Lewis, Claire Lucas, Jordan Mansfield, Jens Najorka, Simon O’Connor, Simon Parfitt, Sylvia Peglar, Andrew Sorensen and Chris Stringer

With thanks to…

Mareike Stahlschmidt, Christopher Jeans, Will Lord and Craig Williams 

Duke of Grafton, Matthew Hawthorne, David Heading, Edward Heading, Richard Heading, David Switzer, Luke Dale, Xin Ding, Sophie Hunter, Dylan Jones, Izzy Klipsch, Murat Özturan, Aaron Rawlinson, Ian Taylor and Tudor Bryn Jones. 

The research has been funded by the Calleva Foundation.

 

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A Big Puzzle: the refitting of a burnt handaxe from Barnham

British Museum volunteers Xin Ding and Steve Barlin, and PAB member Dr Claire Lucas relate how they identified the first fire-cracked handaxe from Barnham while refitting heat shattered stones.

When we think about archaeological discoveries, we first think of the amazing objects and structures that immediately stand out as they are being unearthed by the diggers. However, remarkable discoveries also occur after the excavation, when the finds and samples are meticulously processed and studied in the laboratory. Imagine our excitement when we pieced together 400,000-year-old heated flint fragments to reveal, for the first time, an exquisite fire-cracked handaxe from Barnham in Suffolk.

fire-cracked handaxe
The first fire-cracked handaxe identified at Barnham, currently refitted from 25 pieces and still incomplete. (Photo: Claire Lucas)

Flint refitting usually involves replacing flakes onto a core to reconstruct the original block as it was before knapping, so that we can then backtrack the reduction method employed by the flintknapper. Beforehand, joining fragments of broken objects is often required to fix past accidents, when flakes broke during flint knapping or later, when tools were used or even discarded on the floor and exposed to trampling, frost or fire. These events can leave us with more pieces to study than those initially produced by the prehistoric inhabitants. 

cluster before refitting
The pieces of the A2 cluster before refitting. The fine knapping of the top left one was an incentive to attempt refitting. (Photo: Claire Lucas)

Flint may explode when heated to high temperatures. Refitting heat shattered materials, even unknapped stones, is a way to appreciate the effects of fire on the whole block and map the fragments distribution to see how they moved across the site. The idea of attempting such refitting had emerged on site as quantities of heat shattered flint were found alongside handaxe manufacturing flakes in the Areas I and VI of Barnham East Farm. In the field, all burning evidence was thoroughly recorded with a question in mind: Did the hominins who produced handaxes here also make fire or could it result from a wildfire? Amongst the methods available to characterize burning events, refitting is always a long shot as it is an uncertain, time-consuming exercise. In the summer 2023, the discovery of a heated flint cluster including a finely knapped fragment in square A2 finally convinced us it was worth trying.

In the autumn of 2023, post excavation tasks were undertaken at a British Museum store and research facility by a team of 3 to 6 volunteers meeting weekly. As a standard start for refitting, all heated stones from Area I were washed and labelled before being laid out on a table. This preparatory work took weeks due to the sheer number of pieces, most of which are tiny fragments less than 2 cm long and required miniature handwriting to apply their excavation number. Once the clean pieces exhibiting neat fractures were laid out, refitting of the 3D puzzle began. 

Volunteers refitting heated flint from Barnham
Volunteers refitting heated flint from Barnham Area I. (Photo: Siddharth Kutty)

To identify items likely to refit, we look at the colours of course to spot the heated pieces sharing similar pale and reddish tints and, most importantly, we observe the break shapes and surface textures. Looking closely, there are surfaces with coarser or finer grain, some are smooth and shiny while others show a rough texture that is typical of some thermal fractures. Thus, scrutinizing all pieces for resemblances, we started gathering those looking alike together.

Refitting sets built up gradually over a couple of months. All it needed at last was some imagination and boldness to assemble them and a bit of double-sided tape and foam to temporarily hold the refit groups whilst still allowing separation when need be. Like any puzzle, flint refitting can be addictive. Second and third calls soon became necessary to ensure all volunteers stopped for lunch. Enthusiasm reached a peak when the refit group with the finely knapped piece from the A2 cluster started looking more and more like a handaxe. We were finally able to assemble parts of both faces confirming the tool was indeed bifacially knapped. The fire-cracked handaxe is still incomplete as we write these lines but, amazingly, we managed to refit 25 pieces, most of which are tiny fragments resulting from a severe exposure to fire.

pieces of the A2 cluster during refitting
The pieces of the A2 cluster during refitting, when both faces of the handaxe were finally assembled. (Photo: Xin Ding)

Alongside many unknapped heated pebbles, another three fire-cracked handaxes and two flakes were refitted by the end of the following autumn. Most of the refits achieved so far reassemble fragments found very close to one another in the field. They support a good spatial preservation of the sediments and materials in some parts of Area I which might have laid relatively undisturbed since the fire occurred.

fire-cracked handaxe from Barnham
Another fire-cracked handaxe from Barnham, refitted from 6 pieces and almost complete. (Photo: Claire Lucas)

Meanwhile, in the lab, an array of scientific analyses was undertaken on a variety of fire evidence collected in the vicinity of the fire-cracked handaxes, including heated sediments, charcoals, and pyrite fragments. The results of these analyses provided further evidence of the making of fire by Barnham handaxe makers, and the patiently refitted fire-cracked handaxes became a vivid image of the technologies of these early humans. We are always one click away from a clearer picture of the past…

Further Reading

Davis, R.J, Hatch, M., Hoare, S., Lewis, S.G., Lucas C., Parfitt, S.A., Bello, S.M., Lewis, M., Mansfield, J., Najorka,J., O’Connor, S., Peglar, S., Sorensen, A., Stringer, C.B., Ashton, N.M. (2025). Earliest evidence of making fire. Nature.

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Reflections on the Barnham 2023 Field Season

Another season of fieldwork is completed at East Farm, Barnham

Earlier this summer PAB researchers returned to Barnham for a three-week season of fieldwork. The usual blend of ‘old hands’ and those excavating at Barnham for the first time, including students from Cambridge, Liverpool and Southampton universities, quickly settled into the routine of the excavation, established the areas to be excavated, and set about the various tasks with care and energy. Following a successful field season in 2022, this year’s work focused on an area adjacent to Area I and the intriguing evidence for burning that was revealed there last year, which has added to the abundant quantity of heated material previously found in this part of the site.

Team members working in Area I during the 2023 excavations at Barnham, Suffolk

The main objective of the fieldwork this year was to establish the nature and lateral extent of the indications of burning. To achieve this, the test trench started last year was excavated in detail and the original footprint of Area I was extended to link the old and new parts of Area I. Together these two excavated areas provide further evidence for fire at Barnham. Samples taken last year for magnetics, FTIR and micromorphology have been supplemented with new samples for processing and analysis. Lithic artefacts were also recovered, which were not as numerous as previous years so each one generated renewed excitement and interest!

A cluster of burnt flint (centre left) being excavated in Area I during 2023 fieldwork at Barnham

Elsewhere on the site a small trench in Area III was opened to enlarge the sample from units which have yielded abundant bone material. Extension of the western edge of Area III and re-opening of Pit 4, an old section from the 1990s fieldwork, has provided another opportunity to look at the relationship between the thicker succession in the central part of the basin and the thinner more marginal sediments in greater detail.

During the excavation a number of scientists visited the site including Sally Hoare (Liverpool University), Mareike Stahlschmidt (University of Vienna) and Richard Preece (Cambridge). We also welcomed members of the Essex Rock and Mineral Club for a site visit, and an enthusiastic group from Barnham Primary School, perhaps a future Palaeolithic archaeologist was among them?

For more information about the Barnham Excavations see the project webpages.

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2022 Excavations Begin at Barnham

The 2022 season of excavations begins at Barnham, Suffolk

The PAB project’s 2022 field season continues with a three-week excavation at the Lower Palaeolithic site at East Farm, Barnham which started this week under the blazing Suffolk sunshine.  After resuming field work in 2021, the main aim for this year is to further explore key areas within the site. As the research has evolved since 2013 the focus of the excavations has shifted from the re-examination of the relationship between handaxe and non-handaxe assemblages (as reported in Ashton et al., 2016) and the large-scale sieving of sediments to recover vertebrate remains to investigation of evidence of fire and also the changes in the environmental and archaeological signals over the earlier part of the interglacial.

To achieve the first of these, a small area has been identified adjacent to Area I where the critical part of the sequence can be explored in detail. Preliminary work last year revealed potentially heated sediments and the objective this year is to excavate and sample these sediments. A suite of analytical techniques will be used to establish whether the sediments have been heated and this may provide more indications of human use of fire.

The second objective requires further excavation and sieving of sediments from Area III. Unlike the marginal locations in Area I and Area VI where the succession is compressed and decalcified, in Area III the equivalent sediments are several metres thick, calcareous and contain abundant fossil material. Palynological analysis of these sediments has identified that they span zones I and II of the Hoxnian interglacial and this allows the archaeological evidence to be linked to the vegetation zones within the interglacial both at Barnham and further afield.

Professors Simon Lewis and Nick Ashton remove the handaxe found in Area III during the first day of the 2022 Barnham excavations

The first day on site saw a flurry of excitement as a handaxe was discovered while cleaning sections ready for excavation. While handaxes are known from the site, they are not common; only a few have been found during our excavations since 1989, to add to the small number known from earlier accounts. Given the potential significance of the find it was important to establish its context. The handaxe was found while removing backfill from one of the old pits left by the clay diggers in the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. Removal of the sediments that were used to backfill these pits has already provided insights into how the clay was extracted for brick-making. Careful examination of the sediments in which the handaxe was found showed that it lay beneath a block of sediment that had collapsed into the trench immediately after it was dug by the labourers. Digging deeper revealed that the artefact was only a few centimetres above undisturbed sediments but was in fact within backfill, a mix of sediments collapsed from the side of the quarry trench and material thrown back into the hole at the end of its productive life. The handaxe therefore cannot be attributed to any part of the succession in Area III.

Two members of the excavation team, Luke Dale and Dylan Jones, who spent several hours carefully cleaning and excavating around the handaxe, describe it as follows: this black flint handaxe is in excellent condition. It is 130mm x 95mm and has a cordate or teardrop shape. It is highly symmetrical and features a white chalky inclusion on each face, which may have been deliberately preserved during manufacture. It would have been shaped using hard stone hammers, with the final delicate touches added using a soft hammer, probably a piece of antler, to refine the shape. The handaxe has been sharpened with the removal of a flake from the tip, known as a tranchet, resulting in a razor-sharp cutting edge.

While this particular artefact is of limited use as it is not in situ, it is an interesting way to get this year’s dig underway! We hope that further evidence of human activity at this location 400,000 years ago will be found during this year’s excavations – the search continues!

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2022 Field Season Begins at Beeches Pit, Suffolk

Cutting 2 as prepared by John Wymer for the QRA Easter Field Meeting (photo: Simon Lewis)
Cutting 2 as prepared by John Wymer for the QRA Easter Field Meeting in 1991 (photo: Simon Lewis)

The focus of PAB field research activities in 2022 is firmly located in the Breckland of East Anglia, with excavations scheduled to take place at three Palaeolithic sites during the year. First up is Beeches Pit, West Stow. Like many Breckland sites this was once a clay pit, dug in the late 19th and early 20th century for brick-making. Despite early visits by geologists, it wasn’t until the 1970s that the molluscan fauna from Beeches Pit was studied in detail by Michael Kerney, and stratigraphical and archaeological investigations did not take place until the 1990s and 2000s. It was the combination of John Wymer’s interest in the area and the need for a site for the QRA’s 1991 Easter Field Meeting that led John, together with David Bridgland, Simon Lewis and Richard Preece to begin to tackle the complex geological succession (photo right). Within a few years John Gowlett had commenced archaeological excavations and the Beeches Pit story began to take shape. The geological sequence consists of glacial sediments, overlain by silts and clays, tufaceous deposits and sands, which contain rich molluscan and vertebrate assemblages. The molluscs include a highly distinctive suite of land snails that includes Lyrodiscus, whose ‘cousin’ is now restricted to the Canary Islands. The molluscs together with the mammalian fauna enables correlation of Beeches Pit with other sites in Britain and northern France. The site has been dated to the Hoxnian Interglacial or Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 11 (c. 400,000 years ago). This work was fully published by Preece et al., (2006, 2007).

The site also contains an in situ Acheulian assemblage associated with hearths and some of the earliest evidence for controlled fire-use in Europe. The archaeological evidence is associated with the middle of the Hoxnian Interglacial, and correlates with other Acheulean assemblages in Britain at this time. However, recent work at East Farm, Barnham, has demonstrated an earlier phase of occupation of Britain during the first half of the Hoxnian Interglacial, represented by a core and flake industry traditionally assigned to the Clactonian. This is thought to indicate two separate populations of humans, with distinctive technology, occupying Britain at different times during the Hoxnian and derived from different source populations in mainland Europe, with important implications for understanding early human demography and social organisation.

This year’s fieldwork aims to establish whether there is a significant archaeological component in the lower part of the succession, and how this relates to the handaxe assemblage that has been excavated from the overlying deposits. This is an important matter to address as it will establish whether Beeches Pit conforms to the model that has been developed from other Breckland sites of distinct phases of human presence with different archaeological signatures. The work will answer two important questions: first, at what point within the interglacial did humans first occupy Beeches Pit and second, what was the character of the technology used by these first inhabitants, and does that technology change through time? In addition, sampling and sieving of all the excavated sediments will provide an opportunity to add to the vertebrate and molluscan faunal records from the site.

Breckland Palaeolithic Project excavations of Cutting 5 in 2018 (photo: Simon Lewis)
Breckland Palaeolithic Project excavations of Cutting 5 in 2018 (photo: Simon Lewis)
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Looking Back … Looking Forward

As 2022 begins we take the opportunity to look back on the year just ended and to look forward to the year ahead

For the Pathways to Ancient Britain project 2021 saw a resumption of fieldwork, publication of several papers by PAB researchers and a range of engagement activities. Here are some of the highlights from 2021 and a quick look forward to plans for 2022.

The well-established excavations at East Farm, Barnham were put on hold in 2020, but we were able to return to the site in 2021 and complete a scaled-down season of fieldwork. This focused on sampling and sieving sediments from the fauna-bearing deposits in Area III, completing a borehole programme and exploring further the evidence of fire at the site. Later in the year, PAB researcher Dr Rob Davis led excavations at a less well-known Breckland site, Devereux’s Pit, Icklingham. An enlarged archaeological area yielded a number of Lower Palaeolithic artefacts and over 20 boreholes were drilled to investigate the stratigraphy. The identification of sediments containing shells and bone fragments offers the potential for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction and amino acid dating, analysis is now underway. 

Devereux’s Pit 2021: Excavating in Area I (Photo: Simon Lewis)

Results from the Breckland Palaeolithic Project were published in two papers in 2021, looking at the geology and archaeology of the Bytham River. The first to appear (Davis et al., 2021) reassessed the old collections from a number of sites within the terrace deposits of the Bytham River and identified important patterns in the Palaeolithic record. The second paper (Lewis et al., 2021) established a revised model for the terrace stratigraphy of the Bytham River and through the application of Electron Spin Resonance dating methods, provided a chronological framework for these deposits, supporting the pre-Anglian age for these sediments and the Palaeolithic archaeology contained therein.

Although the focus of fieldwork has shifted from Happisburgh to the Breckland over the last few years, the Norfolk coastline continues to be an important research area for the PAB project. In 2021 the latest paper on Palaeolithic archaeology at Happisburgh (Bynoe et al., 2021 [OA]) reported on the substantial collection of finds from the beach and foreshore that has been amassed by collectors regularly visiting and ‘fieldwalking’ the beach and carefully recording the location of their finds using GPS. A large number of lithic artefacts and faunal remains were studied for the paper and spatial patterns could be identified relating to both known archaeological sites at Happisburgh and also suggesting previously unknown locations that may be releasing artefacts and fauna onto the beach.

Other papers to appear in 2021 included Rob Davis’s analysis of the Test valley’s Palaeolithic record (Davis et al., 2021), and a review of the early Acheulean in Britain (Ashton and Davis, 2021), developing a “Cultural Mosaic Model” to explain the differences in lithic assemblages in Britain and beyond.

Geology beach walk at Happisburgh
Deep History Detectives Weekend at Happisburgh: Geology beach walk led by Prof Simon Lewis (photo: Dr Ian Parker Heath)

Public engagement activities during 2021 provided further opportunities for PAB researchers to share their research with a range of audiences. PAB research associate Dr Claire Harris led a number of engagement activities. The Deep History Detectives weekend in July comprised a knapping workshop, training in artefact identification and beach walks to explore the geological succession and archaeological sites along the Happisburgh coastline. A collaborative project, funded by Queen Mary University of London, with members of the education team from Norfolk Museum Service enabled the development of a teaching resource for school groups visiting Cromer Museum. In November the PAB project partnered with the Prehistoric Society to run an online panel discussion “Are genes deep history?” as a contribution to the 2021 Being Human Festival of the Arts and Humanities.

So, what’s in store in 2022? Hopefully it will be possible to continue the field excavations at Barnham and Devereux’s Pit. In addition, a small-scale excavation is planned at Beeches Pit, West Stow, to investigate the archaeological content of the lower part of the sequence. Work at Happisburgh is continuing with more beach finds to analyse and write up as well as results from Site 1 to progress towards publication. Another paper from the Breckland Palaeolithic Project, this one reporting the results from the Little Ouse terraces, including the important Palaeolithic sites at Santon Downham and Barnham Heath is also in the works. All in all, it looks like another busy year ahead!

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Barnham Excavation Update

Barnham 2021 Excavation Update
Drilling equipment used at the Barnham excavation, 2021 (photo credit: Simon Lewis)

As we approach the end of the 2021 season, it is good to be able to report that the last three weeks have proved to be very productive. The three main objectives for this year were to recover the site after a fallow 2020, to clear the substantial backlog of sieving from 2019 and to prepare the site for the next phase of fieldwork which we hope will begin in 2022. All these objectives have been largely achieved so we can reflect on a successful field season this year. The smaller number of people on site and the priorities for this year have meant that some areas were not reopened; Area VI, usually the most productive in terms of flint artefacts has not been excavated this year and as a result the number of finds has been less than in previous years. Area III, the focus of this year’s work, has yielded fewer artefacts, but excavation and sieving of these sediments has continued to add to the substantial faunal record and to the lithic assemblage. Clearing the backlog of samples from 2019, with a major sieving operation and on-site processing and sorting of the residues, has also provided a wealth of new material, including some potentially important finds.

In addition to this on-going work, a small test section adjacent to Area I has provided an opportunity to explore further the evidence of fire at Barnham. We hope to be able to undertake some preliminary analysis of samples over the next year and explore this evidence in more detail in 2022.

We have also been able to generate new information on the geometry and distribution of the deposits within and around the site. Twenty boreholes have been drilled to investigate the sediments in the eastern part of the pit and in the surrounding area. As always, testing the current understanding of the site against new evidence can throw up some surprises and these boreholes have provided a lot of new data which will enable us to refine the deposit model for the site.

The scaled down operation this year has allowed us to make good progress, while the quantity of finds has been lower than previous years, the quality of the evidence that we are uncovering remains high. Barnham continues to provide evidence of the landscape and environment 400,000 years ago and important new insights into the lives of our early human ancestors.

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Reflections from a ‘newbie’ at Barnham

University of Reading PhD student Kathryn Price reflects on her experience of digging at Barnham for the first time.

I have had the great fortune of surveying and excavating Palaeolithic archaeology in far flung places including South Africa, India, Oman and Georgia but never in Britain! To be excavating as my first British Palaeolithic site, Barnham, with its rich history of ground-breaking archaeology and longevity of research is a huge honour and one I am most certainly not taking for granted! 

Ongoing excavations at Barnham, Suffolk
Ongoing excavations at Barnham (photo credit: Simon Lewis)

It is quite a challenge in one way to join such an established excavation – no amount of pre-reading quite prepares you for the site itself. Its size (much larger than I expected), its variation of areas within the pit itself (distinctive faunal and archaeological areas), and the sediments themselves – the difference between gritty grey clay and shelly grey clay is very subtle! Not only does the stratigraphy represent the age of the site itself – c 400,000 years ago – but also the many seasons of excavations at the site since 1989 (I was 9 years old!) and the many archaeologists and students who have been part of its history.

With great hope and expectations of finding my very first handaxe, the reality of the nature of Palaeolithic archaeology set in. Nonetheless, it was still exciting when up from the clay, faunal remains and flint flakes began to emerge. This, together with helping Sophie with sorting of residues of the sieved sediments revealed to me a whole new variety of faunal remains. Having been accustomed to finding animal remains in Britain of sheep, pig, dog and cow, to be discovering palaeo fauna such as snake, elephant, lion, European Pond Terrapin and Russian Desman (a strange looking aquatic mole – yes, I didn’t know either) was truly incredible and took some time for the exoticness of these animals to sink in; the realisation that the hominins at Barnham were indeed surrounded by such animals – in Britain!

I’d rather forgotten the slow and steady pace which accompanies Palaeolithic research excavations; the careful excavating in 10cm spits, the 100% sampling strategy and recording of the exact location, orientation and dip of each important faunal fragment and flint artefact. Spending a few days trowelling with Claire and Ian (why were the finds always in his half?!) was enough to ‘get my eye in’ to the difference in the sediments and beginning to making sense of them.

One of the most incredible things about being here is the wealth of knowledge and experience around me – from the archaeologists who have excavated Barnham from the very beginning and those who joined in the 2010s as new questions regarding the site were explored. To learn from this group of experienced researchers, who are always happy to answer questions (of which I always have many!), to soak up their knowledge, and to see how they join all the dots together in formulating the wider picture of what it all means is truly amazing and inspiring. How do you get to that level from your very first Palaeolithic excavation?

I have also had the opportunity to assist in recording some of the boreholes drilled this season across the valley close to the site. Understanding the wider landscape – where the river flowed, the changes in the landscape itself, the effect of glaciations is key to understanding Barnham and its place in the wider Breckland landscape and its relationship to the sites around it. Looking at the bands of sand, silt and clay and beginning to distinguish hillwash, palaeosols and till was so valuable in putting Barnham into its wider landscape context.

Due to COVID, the team is much smaller this year, with no students (apart from a few PhD students, including myself). Coming at a time where many of us have been used to a more isolated existence, to be part of a small community – eating, working and laughing together and talking all things Palaeolithic (and other!) – brings with it its own refreshment and is a reminder of our love for this subject and everything that goes with it. I hope this is the first of many British Palaeolithic adventures for me!

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Barnham 2021 Gets Underway

Area III at Barnham after two years of collapse and vegetation regrowth (photo credit: Simon Lewis)

After a year without fieldwork, the PAB team is excited to be back out in the field at Barnham. Excavations since 2013 at this important Lower Palaeolithic site have revealed a lot of new information and transformed our understanding of the site and its wider context and significance. The stratigraphy and the relationship of the handaxe and core-and-flake assemblages at Barnham have both be revised, these findings were published in 2016.  As well as significantly increasing the number of lithic artefacts from the site, a large-scale sieving programme of the fine-grained sediments in the centre of the basin has yielded much new environmental information including several additions to the faunal list. The palaeobotanical information from the site has also been enhanced through the location of an organic unit which has enabled new pollen and plant macrofossil work. The excavations have also yielded a large quantity of burnt flint fragments, most are natural fragments, but a few are lithic artefacts. To explore this intriguing evidence of burning at Barnham, analysis of sediment found associated with the burned flint has been carried out using Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) techniques to detect a heating signal. Careful excavation has also identified several possible charcoal fragments, which await further detailed study.

After two years of collapse and vegetation regrowth, the site is going to need quite a lot of work to recover the excavation and with a scaled-down research team on site everyone will be working hard to make up for lost time and get the research project back on track. Priorities for this year are to complete the sampling and processing of the sediments in Area III. Sieving is done on site, so the excavated sediment is first dried, then soaked overnight with a dispersant before being washed through a fine-mesh sieve and the retained residues are then taken back to London for sorting and identification. We also hope to continue the search for artefacts. This will allow the archaeological evidence to be more closely tied into the geological, environmental record at Barnham.