Miss Layard Excavates : The Palaeolithic Site at Foxhall Road, Ipswich, 1903-1905

by White, Mark J.; Plunkett, Steven; Allen, Peter (CON); O'Connor, Anne (CON)

• ISBN13: 9780953541881
• ISBN10: 0953541886
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-09-30
• Publisher: David Brown Book Co

Summary

Between 1903 and 1905, Miss Nina Frances Layard conducted exemplary excavations of an outstanding Palacolithic site on plateau gravels above Ipswich. Here, Palacolithic humans gathered around the edges of an erstwhile lake and/or river, leaving behind stone tools and manufacturing waste. Many remarkable pictures emerge from this book: of the excavator, an Edwardian lady of great determination and skill: of the site itself, which might well have been on a par with Boxgrove had it been discovered today; of the piecing together of Miss Layard's lost archive by Steven Plunkett; of the meeting of two enthusiasts and their decision to write this book--and last but by no means least--of the remarkable archaeological evidence. The authors have assembled a jigsaw of magnificent proportions; their detective work has enabled them to return a neglected but truly significant site to its rightful place in the canon of British Palaeolithic archaeology.

Table of Contents

List of figures	viii
List of tables	xi
Acknowledgements	xii
Foreword	xiii
`Too early for its own archaeological good': Foxhall Road 1902--2002	1	(4)
Introduction	1	(2)
Aims and structure	3	(1)
Some brief explanatory notes	4	(1)
Nina Frances Layard (1853--1935): a short biography of an archaeologist	5	(10)
An account of the Ipswich Palaeolithic discovery of 1902	15	(12)
Introduction	15	(1)
Discovery	15	(1)
Announcement	16	(4)
Problems and committees	20	(2)
Into the field: excavations 1903--1904	22	(1)
Time to reflect	22	(1)
Excavations of 1904--1905	23	(1)
New directions	24	(3)
Palaeolithic archaeology in 1902: Foxhall Road in context	27	(12)
Introduction	27	(1)
Geology and archaeology -- amateurs and professionals	27	(1)
Roles and models within the Foxhall Road committee	28	(3)
Glacial chronology and the extent of human antiquity	31	(2)
Hoxne, Suffolk	33	(1)
Hitchin, Hertfordshire	33	(1)
The eolith problem	34	(1)
Archaeology in practice	35	(2)
The chronology of stone implements	37	(2)
Two winters' work at the Ipswich Palaeolithic site: the excavations of 1903--1904 and 1904--1905	39	(16)
The first winter season, 1903--1904	39	(2)
Collecting and recording practices	41	(3)
The excavation	44	(5)
The second winter season, 1904--1905	49	(1)
Collecting and recording practices	49	(1)
The excavation	50	(5)
The geology of Foxhall Road and the surrounding area	55	(22)
Introduction	55	(1)
Regional geological background	55	(1)
Solid geology	55	(1)
Red and Norwich Crag formations	56	(1)
Kesgrave formation	56	(1)
Glacial deposits	57	(1)
Topography and drainage	58	(1)
Geology of the Foxhall Road site	58	(1)
Summary of Miss Layard's sequence	58	(6)
Miss Layard's interpretation (with contributions by Reid, Evans and Dawkins)	64	(1)
Summary of Smith's sequence	65	(2)
Smith's interpretation	67	(1)
Boswell and Moir's sequence	67	(1)
Boswell's interpretation	68	(1)
Correlation	69	(1)
Discussion and interpretation	69	(1)
Geomorphology	69	(1)
The geology at the site	70	(3)
Summary interpretation and tentative dating	73	(4)
The artefacts from Miss Layard's excavation	77	(54)
Introduction	77	(1)
Isolating the assemblages	77	(3)
Considering site formation processes	80	(1)
Geological context	81	(2)
Artefact condition	83	(3)
Refitting studies	86	(1)
Artefact size distribution	86	(1)
Artefact orientation	87	(1)
Collector issues	88	(2)
Summary	90	(1)
Analysing the `floor' assemblages	91	(1)
Artefact distribution	91	(2)
Raw materials	93	(1)
The cores and core tools	94	(9)
The handaxes	103	(18)
Inter- and intra-assemblage patterns	121	(1)
The flakes	122	(3)
The flake tools	125	(3)
Summary	128	(3)
Further excavations at the Ipswich Palaeolithic site: the investigations and collections of Reginald Smith and James Reid Moir	131	(16)
The Smith excavation	131	(1)
April 1914	132	(2)
August 1914	134	(1)
Artefacts from the Smith excavation	134	(2)
The Moir excavation	136	(2)
Artefacts from the Moir excavation	138	(2)
Condition	140	(3)
Cores	143	(1)
Flakes	144	(1)
Handaxes	144	(1)
Flake tools	145	(1)
Summary	146	(1)
Summary and discussion: reconstructing the distant past from the recent past	147	(16)
Summaries	147	(4)
Further discussion and interpretation	151	(10)
Closing remarks	161	(2)
Appendix 1	163	(7)
Appendix 2	170	(5)
Appendix 3	175	(2)
Appendix 4	177	(6)
Notes	183	(2)
Bibliography & Sources	185	(8)
Index	193