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Digital teaching and learning resources relating to the Palaeolithic archaeology of both the south-west region and Britain are now available here.

Why is there so little recorded evidence for the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic settlement of south-west Britain?

Can collections of stone tools from river sands and gravels tell us anything about pre-modern human populations, migrations and settlements during the Ice Ages?

Can sand and gravel deposits provide information on the location and form of ancient rivers in the south-west?

The Palaeolithic Rivers of South-West Britain project (PRoSWeB) aims to answer these and other questions by studying the sand and gravel sediments transported and eventually laid down by rivers during the Middle Pleistocene (c. 780,000–125,000 years ago) and synthesising the archaeological (stone tool) evidence for the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic occupation of south-west Britain (c. 500,000–40,000 years ago) to be found within these sediments.

80–90% of Britain’s known Lower and Middle Palaeolithic heritage consists of assemblages of stone tools transported by ancient rivers from where they were discarded by hominids (pre-modern humans), to re-worked (secondary) contexts within the sands and gravels of river terraces. Recent research has begun to explore new ways in which these seemingly unpromising collections can provide significant archaeological information about hominid population histories, including their migrations and settlements. Historically however, studies of the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic archaeology of the south-west region have predominantly only emphasised the cave and rock shelter archaeology (from sites such as Kent’s Cavern).

PRoSWeB draws on studies of artefacts from secondary contexts and recent advances in palaeogeography (the geography of ancient land surfaces), particularly in the understanding of the evolution of the English Channel and the dating of river deposits, to assess the Palaeolithic archaeological resources associated with fluvial (river) landscapes in the south-west.

The primary goal of the project is to produce a regional synthesis of the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic archaeology of south-west Britain. This work will raise the profile of the region’s Palaeolithic archaeological heritage, and also inform the current and future management of regional aggregates (gravel and sand) extraction, which can be a potential threat to the Palaeolithic archaeological resource.

For the purposes of this project, south-west Britain is defined as the region west of the headwaters of the River Frome and River Piddle (Dorset) and south-west of the River Avon (Somerset). This region has received relatively little research over the last twenty years with regard to its Palaeolithic archaeology and Pleistocene rivers, and it is intended that the work of PRoSWeB will complement the relative wealth of Palaeolithic archaeological and Pleistocene geological knowledge associated with the neighbouring areas of the Avon valley and Bristol region and the Solent River.

The project complements regional and national studies of the British Quaternary and Palaeolithic archaeology such as The National Ice Age Network, The Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Occupation of the Middle and Lower Trent Catchment, and The Medway Valley Palaeolithic Project.

The project has run a variety of outreach events for schools, societies, interested public and the academic community. Details of outreach events can be found on the News & Events page. As a follow-up to these events, the project has also produced a series of digital teaching and learning resources: details and copies of which can be found here.

The project is funded by English Heritage through the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF), and their support is gratefully acknowledged.

Further details of the Fund and of other projects can be found at the English Heritage web-site.

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