Key Alastair, Lauer Tobias, Skinner Matthew M, Pope Matthew, Bridgland David R, Noble Laurie, Proffitt Tomos
Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3DZ, UK.
Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
R Soc Open Sci. 2022 Jun 22;9(6):211904. doi: 10.1098/rsos.211904. eCollection 2022 Jun.
Northern Europe experienced cycles of hominin habitation and absence during the Middle Pleistocene. Fluvial gravel terrace sites in the east of Britain and north of France provide a majority of the data contributing to this understanding, mostly through the presence or absence of stone-tool artefacts. To date, however, relatively few sites have been radiometrically dated, and many have not been excavated in modern times, leading to an over-reliance on selectively sampled and poorly dated lithic assemblages. This includes Fordwich (Kent, UK), where over 330 bifaces were discovered through industrial quarrying in the 1920s. Here, we present the first excavation and dating of artefacts discovered at Fordwich, alongside their technological analysis and relationship to those previously recovered. The site is demonstrated to retain deposits of Lower Palaeolithic artefacts, with 251 flakes, scrapers and cores identified to date. Infrared-radiofluorescence (IR-RF) dating of feldspar reveals 112 artefacts to have come from levels dating to at least 570 ± 36 to 513 ± 30 thousand years ago (ka) and are most plausibly assigned to an MIS 14 deposition, with artefacts produced during MIS 15 (approx. 560-620 ka). Indeed, these IR-RF samples provide minimum ages for artefacts. Combined with evidence from exposures linked to the original quarrying activities, a similar MIS 15 age is suggested for the more than 330 handaxe artefacts discovered in the 1920s. The remaining excavated artefacts come from levels dated to between 347 ± 22 and 385 ± 21 ka (MIS 10 or 11), with this later age interpreted to reflect post-MIS 14 deposition by substrate gullying and solifluction. These data demonstrate Fordwich to be one of the earliest Palaeolithic sites in northwestern Europe, and to retain the only large Acheulean handaxe assemblage directly dated to pre-MIS 13. Thus, Fordwich is determined to be a crucial piece of the pre-Anglian Palaeolithic puzzle in northern Europe.
北欧在中更新世经历了古人类居住和空缺的循环。英国东部和法国北部的河流砾石阶地遗址提供了大部分有助于理解这一情况的数据，主要是通过石器制品的有无来判断。然而，迄今为止，经过放射性测年的遗址相对较少，而且许多遗址在现代都没有进行过发掘，导致过度依赖选择性采样且年代测定不佳的石器组合。这其中包括福德威奇（英国肯特郡），20世纪20年代通过工业采石发现了330多件双面工具。在此，我们展示了在福德威奇发现的人工制品的首次发掘和年代测定，以及它们的技术分析和与之前发现的人工制品的关系。该遗址被证明保留了旧石器时代早期人工制品的沉积物，迄今已识别出251件薄片、刮刀和石核。对长石进行的红外放射性荧光（IR-RF）测年显示，112件人工制品来自至少可追溯到570±36至513±30千年前（ka）的地层，最有可能属于海洋同位素阶段（MIS）14沉积，还有一些人工制品是在MIS 15（约560 - 620 ka）期间制作的。实际上，这些IR-RF样本提供了人工制品的最小年龄。结合与原始采石活动相关的暴露证据，对于20世纪20年代发现的330多件手斧人工制品，也提出了类似的MIS 15年龄。其余发掘出的人工制品来自年代在347±22至385±21 ka之间（MIS 10或11）的地层，较晚的这个年代被解释为反映了MIS 14之后由于基底冲刷和冻融作用的沉积。这些数据表明福德威奇是西北欧最早的旧石器时代遗址之一，并且保留了唯一直接测定为早于MIS 13的大型阿舍利手斧组合。因此，福德威奇被确定为北欧前盎格鲁旧石器时代拼图中的关键一块。
