J Archaeol Sci 32 (7)

Lower and Middle Palaeolithic stone-tools are frequently to be found in association with deposits mapped as clay-with-flints which cap the highest chalk downland hilltops and plateaux of southern England. These superficial deposits exhibit great lithological variability on both a local and regional geographical scale. Field observations suggest that particular facies of the clay-with-flints deposits, in addition to the presence of solution features, may be implicated in the retention of Palaeolithic artefacts on these high-levels. Detailed interpretation of sedimentological analyses is therefore required to identify a `preservation potential correlation for Palaeolithic sites on deposits mapped as Clay-with-flints'. Much of what is generally known about the sedimentology of these deposits is found in literature where the classic sieve and sedimentation methods (pipette or hydrometer) have been adopted to determine quantitatively particle size distribution of soils. Refinement in particle-size methodologies of the fine fraction, through the introduction of laser diffraction granulometry, makes it difficult to compare laser research results with published data based on the use of the sieve-sedimentation methods. This presents problems when attempting to use the available data for both intra and inter Palaeolithic site analysis. The authors' objective was to find suitable limits for the clay, silt and sand fractions to enable calibration between the sieve-sedimentation methods and laser diffraction granulometry (which underestimates the clay fraction). The resultant methodologies, described here, allow such calibrations to be made with confidence. By applying these methodologies, geologists, soil scientists, geomorphologists, archaeologists and other workers can access important comparative sedimentological data that would otherwise not be available for interpretation of the depositional context of the sediments/soils and any artefacts they may contain. Samples from the Palaeolithic site of Dickett's Field, Yarnhams Farm, Holybourne, Hampshire, provided the focus of this work.

It is understood that the orientation of clasts within a deposit can yield information on site formation processes. Although the term clast usually refers to the natural component of a deposit, the artefactual and faunal components are also known to be sensitive to site formation processes. There are a number of ways in which orientations can be recorded and analyzed, and this paper describes how orientations can be recorded as part of piece provenancing artefacts with a total station. After the method is described, the calculation, statistical analysis and presentation of artefact orientations are considered. The final part of the paper presents orientation data from Pech de l'Azé IV recorded and analyzed in this way. The example demonstrates the effectiveness of the total station method of recording orientations, their sensitivity to site formation processes, and the importance of using multiple methods of data analysis and presentation to assess and interpret patterning.

An archaeomagnetic date has been recovered from an organic rich sediment at the base of an alluviated ditch section found during archaeological excavations near the village of Yarnton, Oxford. The magnetic minerals carrying this remanence include greigite and biogenic magnetite, derived from magnetotactic bacteria, that both indicate the presence of a micro-aerobic environment. It is proposed that the archaeomagnetic date from this material indicates the onset of floodplain conditions at the site due to increased population pressure and intensification of land clearance in the Late Iron Age.