Dr. Robert Hosfield

Rob

Welcome to my personal home page, here you can find bits about me, my research, field projects, publications & some up to date contact details.

I am currently supervising/co-supervising three research students (exploring the Earlier Palaeolithic of the Solent River, the taphonomy of Early Palaeolithic assemblage formation, and GIS approaches to the later prehistoric landscapes of the western Mediterranean), and am keen to supervise new research students undertaking Palaeolithic archaeology projects, particularly those with a focus in any of the following research areas:

·         Experimental archaeology (esp. tool use and/or lithic assemblage taphonomy)

·         The Lower and/or Middle Palaeolithic of southern & south-western Britain

·         Geographical Information Systems (GIS)-applications

Please email me for further details and/or if you wish to discuss a potential project.

Profile

I am currently employed as a junior lecturer (principle interests in Palaeolithic archaeology) at the University of Reading, in the Department of Archaeology, School of Human & Environmental Science (since October 1st 2004). Prior to this post I was based at the Institute of Archaeology for six months (working with Professor Stephen Shennan and Dr Mark Lake in the Centre for the Evolutionary Analysis for Cultural Behaviour (CEACB), on a project exploring cultural learning and the transmission of craft skills). Before that I spent 13 years at the Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton, both as a student (UG, MSc and PhD) and post-doctoral research fellow. As a research fellow I conducted fieldwork in Devon (at the Lower Palaeolithic site of Broom) and mid-Wales (an experimental archaeology project on the Afon Ystwyth) and also completed the Archaeological Potential of Secondary Contexts project. In the midst of my Southampton years (1998/1999) I spent a year at Bournemouth University (School of Conservation Sciences), working with Professor Tim Darvill on the Early History of the English Channel Project.

Research Interests

·         British Lower and Middle Palaeolithic archaeology

·         Fluvial secondary contexts

·         Experimental archaeology

·         GIS applications

I have currently working on three projects: a re-exploration of the Lower Palaeolithic deposits at Corfe Mullen on the river Stour (with Dr John McNabb, University of Southampton), and an experimental archaeology project developing new methods and techniques through a series of pilot projects (Developing Experimental Approaches in Archaeology), and a re-assessment of the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic archaeology of the western reaches of the Solent River (with Dr Nick Ashton, British Museum). I have also recently been involved with an experimental butchery project at Reading (led by Dr Anna Machin).

I recently co-directed (with Professor Tony Brown of Southampton University) The Palaeolithic Rivers of South-West Britain project, funded by English Heritage through the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund. The project documented the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic archaeology of the south-west region, with specific reference to the findspots associated with fluvial landscape fragments (e.g. river terrace deposits), and undertook new fieldwork (including OSL dating) exploring fluvial deposits in the Axe, Exe and Otter rivers, and on the north Somerset coast at Doniford. Papers arising from this project to date include:

Basell, L.S., Brown, A.G., Hosfield, R.T. & Toms, P. 2011. The geoarchaeology of Palaeolithic rivers of South-West Britain. In A.G. Brown, L.S. Basell & K.W. Butzer (eds.) Geoarchaeology, Climate Change, and Sustainability: 23–36. Geological Society of America (Special Paper No. 476): Boulder.

Basell, L.S., Brown, A.G., Toms, P.S. & Gallois R. 2011. The Otter Valley gravels and Budleigh Salterton. In L.S. Basell, A.G. Brown & P. Toms (eds.) The Quaternary of the Exe Valley and Adjoining Areas: 139–147. QRA: London.

Basell, L.S., Brown, A.G., Toms, P.S. & Norman, C. 2011. The Doniford gravels. In L.S. Basell, A.G. Brown & P. Toms (eds.) The Quaternary of the Exe Valley and Adjoining Areas: 155–163. QRA: London.

Brown, A.G., Basell, L.S., Toms, P.S., Bennett, J.A., Hosfield, R.T. & Scrivener, R.C. 2010. Later Pleistocene evolution of the Exe valley: A chronostratigraphic model of terrace formation and its implications for Palaeolithic archaeology. Quaternary Science Reviews 29: 897–912.

Brown, A.G., Basell, L.S., Toms, P.S. & Scrivener, R.C. 2009. Towards a budget approach to Pleistocene terraces: preliminary studies using the River Exe in South West England, UK. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association 120: 275–281.

Hosfield, R.T., Brown, A.G., Basell, L.S. & Hounsell, S. 2006. Beyond the caves: The Palaeolithic Rivers of South-West Britain. Geoscience in South-West England 11(3): 183–190.

Prior to this I completed The Archaeological Potential of Secondary Contexts project (undertaken in The Centre for the Archaeology of Human Origins (CAHO), University of Southampton), funded by English Heritage through the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund. The project explored the potential value of secondary context stone tool assemblages recovered from fluvial terrace sediments, with respect to the archaeology of the British Lower and Middle Palaeolithic. Earlier research undertaken as part of my PhD (awarded spring 1999), and British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (1999-2002) explored hominid demography across Europe during the Middle Pleistocene. Issues of population ebb and flow and hominid colonising capabilities were examined through GIS modelling and lithic data sets.

Between 2000 and 2003 I directed a three year field project (The Axe Valley Project), examining Middle Pleistocene fluvial terrace gravel sediments at Broom on the River Axe in west Dorset and east Devon. The research focused upon the area's Lower Palaeolithic chert industries, depositional sequences, and the chronological and palaeo-environmental evidence. Over the same period I also initiated an ongoing experimental archaeology project (near Aberystwyth in mid Wales), investigating the transportation, abrasion and deposition of lithic artefacts within gravel-bed rivers (The Afon Ystwyth Experimental Archaeology Project).

I am currently a Committee Member of the Lithic Studies Society, and until very recently acted as editor of the society’s journal Lithics. I am an Associate Member of the AHOB 3 Project: Dispersals of Early Humans; Adaptations, frontiers and new territories, and also recently completed a three-year term as a council member of the Prehistoric Society.

I have also been involved with the South West Archaeological Research Framework (SWARF), acting as the period convenor for the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic, and have also contributed to the Solent-Thames Archaeological Research Framework (the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic archaeology of Berkshire).

Teaching

I am currently involved in the teaching of some or all of four modules:

·         Primates to Pyramids: An Introduction to World Prehistory (a general introduction to, oddly enough, world prehistory – I get the Palaeolithic bits, right up to the 1st origins of agriculture…)

·         Middle Palaeolithic of Europe and South-West Asia (speaks for itself really)

·         Techniques in Artefact Interpretation (I do the lithics bits)

·         Hominins, Hearths & Handaxes: Studies in the Lower Palaeolithic of North-Western Europe (the European Lower Palaeolithic, with a particular focus on scales of analysis, and the problems of integrating on-site and off-site data sets)

·         And guest appearances on one or two other things too…

Field Projects

My major field projects over the last few years have been:

·         The Broom Excavations Project

·         The Afon Ystwyth Experimental Archaeology Project

Publications

 

SolentQRA.jpgLithics30.jpg

 

Journal Papers

 

Hosfield, R.T. 2011. The British Lower Palaeolithic of the early Middle Pleistocene. In. J.S. Carrión, J. Rose & C. Stringer (eds.) Ecological Scenarios for Human Evolution during the Early and Early Middle Pleistocene in the Western Palaeoarctic (Quaternary Science Reviews Special Issue, Volume 30, Issues 11–12): 1486–1510.

 

Ashton, N. & Hosfield, R.T. 2010. Mapping the human record in the British early Palaeolithic: evidence from the Solent River system. Journal of Quaternary Science 25(5): 737–753.

 

Brown, A.G., Basell, L.S., Toms, P.S., Bennett, J.A., Hosfield, R.T. & Scrivener, R.C. 2010. Later Pleistocene evolution of the Exe valley: A chronostratigraphic model of terrace formation and its implications for Palaeolithic archaeology. Quaternary Science Reviews 29: 897–912.

 

Hosfield, R.T. & Chambers, J.C. 2009. Genuine diversity? The Broom biface assemblage. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 75: 65–100.

 

McNabb, J. & Hosfield, R.T. 2009. Re-investigations of Lower Palaeolithic archaeology and deposits at Corfe Mullen. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History & Archaeological Society 130: 195–198.

 

Hosfield, R.T. 2007. Terrestrial implications for the maritime geoarchaeological resource: a view from the Lower Palaeolithic. Journal of Maritime Archaeology 2(1): 4–23.

 

Machin, A.J., Hosfield, R.T. & Mithen, S.J. 2007. Why are some handaxes symmetrical? Testing the influence of handaxe morphology on butchery effectiveness. Journal of Archaeological Science 34(6): 883–893.

 

Hosfield, R.T., Brown, A.G., Basell, L.S. & Hounsell, S. 2006. Beyond the caves: The Palaeolithic Rivers of South-West Britain. Geoscience in South-West England 11(3): 183–190.

 

Machin, A.J., Hosfield, R.T. & Mithen, S.J. 2005. Testing the functional utility of handaxe symmetry: Fallow deer butchery with replica handaxes. Lithics: The Journal of the Lithic Studies Society 26: 23–37.

 

Hosfield, R.T. & Chambers, J.C. 2005b. Flake modifications during fluvial transportation: three cautionary tales. Lithics: The Newsletter of the Lithic Studies Society 24: 57–65.

 

Hosfield, R.T. & Chambers, J.C. 2005a. Pleistocene geochronologies for fluvial sedimentary sequences: an archaeologist’s perspective. Journal of Quaternary Science 20(3): 285–296.

 

Hosfield, R.T. & Chambers, J.C. 2002. The Lower Palaeolithic Site of Broom: Geoarchaeological implications of optical dating. Lithics: The Newsletter of the Lithic Studies Society 23: 33–42.

 

Books

 

Hosfield, R.T. 1999. The Palaeolithic of the Hampshire Basin: a regional model of hominid behaviour during the Middle Pleistocene. BAR British Series 286. Archaeopress: Oxford.

 

Edited Volumes

 

Hosfield, R., Wenban-Smith, F.F. & Pope, M. (eds.) 2009. Great Prehistorians: 150 Years of Palaeolithic Research, 1859–2009 (Lithics Special Volume). Lithic Studies Society: London.

 

Briant, R., Bates, M., Hosfield, R. & Wenban-Smith, F.F. (eds.) 2009. The Quaternary of the Solent Basin and West Sussex Raised Beaches. QRA: London.

 

Wenban-Smith, F.F. & Hosfield, R.T. (eds.) 2001. Palaeolithic Archaeology of the Solent River. Lithic Studies Society Occasional Paper 7. Lithic Studies Society: London.

 

Edited Volume Contributions

 

Hosfield, R., Green, C., Toms, P., Scourse, J., Scaife, R. & Chambers, J. 2011. The Middle Pleistocene Deposits & Archaeology at Broom. In L.S. Basell, A.G. Brown & P. Toms (eds.) The Quaternary of the Exe Valley and Adjoining Areas: 103–127. QRA: London.

 

Ashton, N., Lewis, S.G. & Hosfield, R. 2011. Mapping the human record: population change in Britain during the Early Palaeolithic. In N.M. Ashton, S.G. Lewis & C.B. Stringer (eds.) The Ancient Human Occupation of Britain: 39–51. Elsevier: Amsterdam.

 

Hosfield, R.T. 2011. New Sites, New Techniques, New Understandings: 50 Years of Palaeolithic–Mesolithic Research in Wessex. In R. Whimster (ed.) The New Antiquarians: 50 Years of Archaeological Innovations in Wessex: 15–31. CBA (Research Report 166): York.

 

Hosfield, R.T. 2011. Rolling Stones: understanding river-rolled Palaeolithic artefact assemblages. In A.G. Brown, L.S. Basell & K.W. Butzer (eds.) Geoarchaeology, Climate Change, and Sustainability: 37–52. Geological Society of America (Special Paper No. 476): Boulder.

 

Basell, L.S., Brown, A.G., Hosfield, R.T. & Toms, P. 2011. The geoarchaeology of Palaeolithic rivers of South-West Britain. In A.G. Brown, L.S. Basell & K.W. Butzer (eds.) Geoarchaeology, Climate Change, and Sustainability: 23–36. Geological Society of America (Special Paper No. 476): Boulder.

 

Hosfield, R.T. Submitted. Bifaces from river terraces: detecting long and medium-term patterns in the European Lower Palaeolithic. In H. de Lumley (ed.) Les cultures à bifaces du Pléistocène inférieur et moyen dans le monde. Émergence du sens de l’harmonie.

 

Hosfield, R. 2009. The unsung heroes. In R. Hosfield, F.F. Wenban-Smith & M. Pope (eds.) Great Prehistorians: 150 Years of Palaeolithic Research, 1859–2009 (Lithics Special Volume 30): 185–200. Lithic Studies Society: London.

 

Hosfield, R.T., Wenban-Smith, F.F. & Grant, M.J. 2009. Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Archaeology of the Solent Basin and western Sussex region: an overview. In R. Briant, M. Bates, R. Hosfield & F.F Wenban-Smith (eds.) The Quaternary of the Solent Basin and West Sussex Raised Beaches: 42–59. QRA: London.

 

Hosfield, R.T. 2009. Modes of transmission and material culture patterns in craft skills. In S. Shennan (ed.) Pattern and Process in Cultural Evolution: 45–60. University of California Press: Berkeley.

 

Hosfield, R.T. 2008. Stability or Flexibility? Handaxes and Hominins in the Lower Palaeolithic. In D. Papagianni, H. Maschner & R. Layton (eds.) Time and Change: Archaeological and Anthropological Perspectives on the Long Term: 15–36. Oxbow Books: Oxford.

 

Hosfield, R.T., Straker, V., Gardiner, P., Brown, A.G., Davies, P., Fyfe, R., Jones, J. & Tinsley, H.  2008.  Palaeolithic and Mesolithic. In C.J. Webster (ed.) The Archaeology of South West England. South West Archaeological Research Framework: Resource Assessment and Research Agenda: 23–62. Somerset County Council: Taunton.

 

Hosfield, R.T. 2005. Individuals among palimpsest data: fluvial landscapes in Southern England. In C.S. Gamble & M. Porr (eds.) The Individual Hominid in Context: Archaeological investigations of Lower and Middle Palaeolithic landscapes, locales and artefacts: 220–243. Routledge (Taylor & Francis): Abingdon.

 

Hosfield, R.T. & Chambers, J.C. 2005. River gravels and flakes: new experiments in site formation, stone tool transportation and transformation. In M. Fansa (ed.) Experimentelle Archäologie in Europa, Bilanz 2004, Heft 3: 57–74. Isensee Verlag: Oldenburg.

 

Hosfield, R.T. 2002. Quantifying the British Palaeolithic: Regional Data and Hominid Adaptations. In D.W. Wheatley, G.P. Earl & S. Poppy (eds.) Contemporary themes in Archaeological Computing: 37–46. Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton Monograph No. 3. Oxbow Books: Oxford.

 

Hosfield, R.T. & Chambers, J.C. 2002. Processes and Experiences – Experimental Archaeology on a River Floodplain. In M.G. Macklin, P. A. Brewer & T .J. Coulthard (eds.) River Systems and Environmental Change in Wales: Field Guide: 32–39. British Geomorphological Research Group: Aberystwyth.

 

Hosfield, R.T. 2001b. The Lower Palaeolithic of the Solent: site formation and interpretive frameworks. In F.F. Wenban-Smith & R.T. Hosfield (eds.) Palaeolithic Archaeology of the Solent River: 85–97. Lithic Studies Society Occasional Paper 7. Lithic Studies Society: London.

 

Hosfield, R.T. 2001a. Approaching a Wider Spatio-Temporal View: Modelling the Terrace Gravel Assemblages. In K.J. Fewster & M. Zvelebil (eds.) Ethnoarchaeology and Hunter-Gatherers: Pictures at an Exhibition: 127–141. BAR International Series 955. Archaeopress: Oxford.

 

Other Contributions

 

Developing Experimental Approaches in Archaeology Project (Bell, M., Hosfield, R., Matthews, W., Nortcliff, S., Brown, A. & Banerjea, R., with additional contributions by Williams, T., Smith, S., Jenkins, E. & Jones, L.) 2008. Experimental archaeology: Developing experimental approaches in archaeology at Reading. University of Reading: Reading Archaeology.

 

Hosfield, R.T., Brown, A.G., Basell, L. & Hounsell, S. 2005. The Palaeolithic Rivers of South-West Britain. PAST: The Newsletter of the Prehistoric Society 51: 12–14.

 

Hosfield, R.T. 2002. The Palaeolithic Period in Britain. Young Archaeologist 111 (Spring 2002): 4–5.

 

Hosfield, R.T. & Terry, R. 2001. Broom Palaeolithic Sites. Quaternary Newsletter 95 (October 2001): 1–5.

 

Hosfield, R.T. 2001. Palaeolithic Extremes: an Interim Report from the Broom Middle Pleistocene Sites. Devon Archaeological Society Newsletter 79: 12–13.

 

Hosfield, R.T. 1999. Old Data, New Methods: Managing the British Palaeolithic. The Archaeologist 35: 23–25.

 

Reports

 

Toms, P.S., Brown, A.G., Basell, L.S. & Hosfield, R.T. 2008. Palaeolithic Rivers of South-West Britain: Optically Stimulated Luminescence Dating of Residual Deposits of the Proto-Axe, Exe, Otter, and Doniford. Research Department Report Series No. 2-2008. English Heritage: London.

 

Hosfield R.T., Brown, A.G., Basell, L., Hounsell, S. & Young, R. 2007. The Palaeolithic Rivers of South-West Britain. English Heritage Project Report (Project No. 3847). English Heritage Archive Report: London.

 

Toms, P., Hosfield, R.T., Chambers, J.C., Green, C.P. & Marshall, P. 2005. Optical dating of the Broom Palaeolithic sites, Devon & Dorset. Centre for Archaeology Report 16/2005. English Heritage: London.

 

Hosfield, R.T. & Chambers, J.C. 2004. The Archaeological Potential of Secondary Contexts. English Heritage Project Report (Project No. 3361). English Heritage Archive Report: London.

 

Book & Conference Reviews

 

Hosfield, R.T. 2009. Review of Finding Time for the Old Stone Age: A History of Palaeolithic Archaeology and Quaternary Geology in Britain, 1860-1960, by A. O’Connor. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prehistoric/

 

Hosfield, R.T. 2008. Review of Homo Britannicus: the incredible story of human life in Britain, by C. Stringer. The Antiquaries Journal 88: 423–424.

 

Hosfield, R.T. 2008. A global view of bifaces from Tautavel: A review of the conference Les cultures à bifaces du Pléistocène inférieur et moyen dans le monde. Émergence du sens de l’harmonie. Lithics: The Journal of the Lithic Studies Society 28: 79–83.

 

Hosfield, R.T. 2006. Review of Perspectives on Hominid Behaviour and Settlement Patterns: a study of the Lower Palaeolithic sites in the Luonan Basin, China, by S. Wang. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prehistoric/ 

 

Hosfield, R.T. 2006. Review of Investigating Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherer Identities: Case Studies from Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Europe, edited by H.L. Cook, F. Coward, L. Grimshaw & S. Price. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prehistoric/

 

Hosfield, R.T. 1995. A Difficult Child: The ‘English’ Palaeolithic Reviewed. PAST: The Newsletter of the Prehistoric Society 19 (April 1995): 8–9.

 

On-line Publications

 

Brown, A.G., Hosfield, R.T., Basell, L.S., Toms, P., Hounsell, S. & Young, R. 2008.  The Palaeolithic Rivers of Southwest Britain (ALSF Project Number 3847). http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/archive/proswb_eh_2007/.  ADS: York.

 

Hosfield, R.T., Chambers, J.C. & Toms, P. 2007. The Archaeological Potential of Secondary Contexts (ALSF Project Number 3361). http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/archive/apscontexts_eh_2007/index.cfm?CFID=93531&CFTOKEN=86162537. ADS: York.

 

Machin, A.J., Hosfield, R.T. & Mithen, S.J. 2006. Quantifying the Functional Utility of Handaxe Symmetry: An Experimental Butchery Approach. http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/archive/butchery_ba_2006/. ADS: York.

 

Hosfield, R.T. & Chambers, J.C. 2004. Experimental Archaeology on the Afon Ystwyth, Wales, UK. Antiquity 78 (299).

http://antiquity.ac.uk/ProjGall/chambers/index.html

 

Hosfield, R.T. & Chambers, J.C. 2003. Recent Research at the Broom Lower Palaeolithic Site. Antiquity 77 (297):

http://antiquity.ac.uk/ProjGall/hosfield/hosfield.html

 

Contacts

 

Dr Rob Hosfield

Dept. of Archaeology

School of Human & Environmental Science

University of Reading

Whiteknights

PO Box 227

Reading

RG6 6AB

Telephone: 0118 378 7632

Fax: 0118 931 6718

Email: r.hosfield@rdg.ac.uk