Lang, A. T O. and Keen, D. H. (2005). Hominid colonisation and the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic of the West Midlands. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 71. Vol 71, pp. 63-83.
 Title The title of the publication or report |
Hominid colonisation and the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic of the West Midlands | ||||||
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Issue The name of the volume or issue |
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 71 | ||||||
Series The series the publication or report is included in |
The Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society | ||||||
Volume Volume number and part |
71 | ||||||
Page Start/End The start and end page numbers. |
63 - 83 | ||||||
Biblio Note This is a Bibliographic record only. |
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Journal | ||||||
Abstract The abstract describing the content of the publication or report |
The recognition over the last twenty years, that the Quaternary deposits of the West Midlands cover a longer period of time than previously envisaged has led to a re-analysis of their contained Palaeolithic archaeology. Stone tools have been found in the region for over a hundred years and cover most periods of hominid colonisation from the time of the earliest occupants of the country over half a million years ago. Twentieth century research in the West Midlands, often led by Professor F W Shotton at the University of Birmingham, correlated the Palaeolithic of the region with the Quaternary geological sequence as it was then understood. Shotton identified the `Wolstonian' glaciation as the key event of the Midlands Pleistocene, around which a chronology for the Palaeolithic could be built and gave an age of less than 250kyr for this episode. Work since 1985 has compared the Midlands sequence with the oxygen isotope record of the ocean basins and shown that the concept of a relatively recent `Wolstonian' is now untenable and that the former chronology built around it is too short for the observed events in the area. This new time paradigm, with the earliest occupation of the area thought to be c.500kyr, has made necessary a reconsideration of the chronology of the Palaeolithic and Middle Pleistocene of the area. This new time framework brings into critical focus the issue of reworking of the archaeology and its true age. The tools themselves present complications of analysis compared to many other areas containing a Palaeolithic record, perhaps most notably through the use of largely non-flint raw materials, some which may have been introduced into the area by early humans or an hitherto unidentified glacial event. This opportunity to present a new chronology of occupation comes out of the work carried out by the Shotton Project based at the University of Birmingham, and by the University of Liverpool. Includes French, German and Spanish summaries. | ||||||
Year of Publication The year the book, article or report was published |
2005 | ||||||
Locations Any locations covered by the publication or report. This is not the place the book or report was published. |
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Source Where the record has come from or which dataset it was orginally included in. |
BIAB
(The British & Irish Archaeological Bibliography (BIAB))
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Created Date The date the record of the pubication was first entered |
13 Mar 2006 |
