1.1 - An earlier start for the Palaeolithic
This is a nice easy issue to start with, I hope. Several finds on the Norfolk coast in the last 10-15 years have identified clear evidence of very early hominin occupation in Britain, dated to
c. 800,000 years BP [Before Present] at Happisburgh and 700,000 years BP at Pakefield.
However, the current English Heritage Period List [version 16, September 2014], downloadable from
http://fishforum.weebly.com/download-fish-terminology.html , with
the prehistoric parts extracted here (Att 1), still specifies a start date of -500,000.
It is therefore recommended to amend this to something more suitable. On present knowledge, a date such as -850,000 would be early enough to cover the earliest possible start date for a British Palaeolithic as
currently known.
Please express support for this, or make any other suggestions/points.
Homepage:
www.soton.ac.uk/~ffws/New_ffws/index.html
Francis Wenban-Smith (Dr)
Department of Archaeology (CAHOR
- Centre for Applied Human Origins Research)
University of Southampton (Avenue Campus)
Southampton, Hants
SO17 1BF
02380-596 864 (direct)
07771-623 096 (mobile)
Dear Colleagues
Welcome to the first session of the
Labels, Lithics and Landforms e-conference on chronology
Lead Discussant – Francis Wenban-Smith
Facilitator: Gill Campbell
In this session we will focus on the chronological framework of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic with a view to updating definitions and the FISH period list which is available for reference
from here:
http://fishforum.weebly.com/download-fish-terminology.html
While not wishing to limit our discussions which we hope will be wide ranging, the topics which we hope to cover are:
- An earlier start for the Palaeolithic.
- Resolving the Early, Lower and Middle Palaeolithic, and sub-divisions.
- Upper Palaeolithic - divide or not.
- The Mesolithic - how to deal with overlap with final Upper Palaeolithic.
- Having a separate list of terms and date-ranges for geological MI (Marine Isotope) Stages and glacial/interglacial episodes in the UK.
- Reconsidering the distinction, and where to place the boundary, between Early Prehistoric and Later Prehistoric.
I will now hand over to Francis to begin our deliberations.
Gill
Gill Campbell
Head of Environmental Studies
English Heritage
T: 02392 856780
English Heritage Science Network Convenor
www.english-heritage.org.uk
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