Late Upper Palaeolithic (LUP) artefacts collected from ploughsoil on the flattish interfluve between the rivers Trent and Devon have been shown by excavation to derive from alluvial sediments attributed to the Windermere Interstadial. The recorded distribution of artefacts from ploughsoils lies almost exclusively to the north of coversands of potentially later date (Loch Lomond Stadial). Hand-augering and test-pitting, by a team working under the banner' Ice Age Journeys', set out to investigate the extent of these coversands, and to see if contexts surviving beneath them provide potential for Palaeolithic activity. In the southern part of Farndon Fields, the studied sections show that the basal Dimlington Stadial sands and gravels are overlain by laminated sediments on which a weak soil developed before burial by coversands. Two new OSL dates bracket this soil horizon, one above (in coversands, 11.76 ± 0.79 ka) and one below (in laminated sediments, 14.8 ± 1.4 ka), demonstrating its Windermere Interstadial age. This locally high (c. 11.0-11.7 m OD) and dry ground overlooked the alluvial floodplain with proven, in situ, LUP occupation at c. 10.6 m OD. A ridge to the north (c. 11.3-11.7 m OD) has also produced LUP artefacts. Though lacking context because from ploughsoils, they confirm that both landscape settings were occupied by Palaeolithic groups. As the higher ground to the south was subsequently buried by coversands, it lies below the current ploughzone, having therefore great potential for the preservation of intact LUP archaeology.
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)