Lithics 30

The early investigators of Kent's Cavern, Torquay, Devon, had an important part to play in the understanding of human antiquity. Father John MacEnery (1796--1841) first realised the significance of Kent's Cavern as a site where stone tools and extinct animal bones could be found together. It was, however, William Pengelly (1812--1894) who came to be credited with proving the ancient contemporaneity of stone tools and extinct fauna, firstly at Windmill Hill Cave, Brixham, Devon, and later during excavation of Kent's Cavern. Pengelly adopted a methodical approach to his excavations, recording everything he discovered in such a way that much of his work can now be plotted using sophisticated computer mapping techniques. The finds from MacEnery's excavations became largely scattered between different private and public collections, whilst those from Pengelly's work remain mostly in the collection of Torquay Museum, which he helped to found. The stone tools are now known to span throughout the prehistoric occupation of Britain. MacEnery's and Pengelly's work at Kent's Cavern continues to be built upon by modern workers and still makes a large contribution to present-day research.

Sir John Evans is one of the founding fathers of Palaeolithic archaeology. In 1859 he, along with Joseph Prestwich, demonstrated the provenance of artefacts in the drift and that they were the product of the human hand, so proving the greater antiquity of humankind. This paper traces the origins of John Evans' experimental flint knapping back to 1859 and explores how these experiments influenced his argument that the flints from the Somme were the product of the human hand. The paper also briefly explores the influence of his experimental knapping on his approach to lithic analysis and the identification of fakes and frauds.

Henry Stopes was a prominent Victorian brewery architect and engineer with a lifelong passion for flints and fossils, and an active participant in the Eolithic debate of the 19th century. He amassed possibly the largest ever private collection of lithic artefacts and, foreshadowing today's conflicts between development and heritage, endeavoured to mitigate the impact of building near the key Swanscombe site of Dierden's Pit [in Kent] by prior excavation. Drawing from a substantial archive of original material kindly made available by his grandson Harry Stopes-Roe, this paper introduces Stopes the man, and revisits aspects of his archaeological contribution, sadly curtailed by his early death.

Between 1889 and 1896 Benjamin Harrison, an amateur archaeologist, and Joseph Prestwich, one of the most celebrated geologists of his day, fought a spirited campaign to establish the presence of hominins during the glacial Pleistocene period, and possibly before it. The consensus opinion of the time was that humans were predominantly post-glacial. This paper discusses the reasons why Harrison and Prestwich came to believe in glacial and pre-glacial humans, outlining the historical context and describing some of their work in Kent. Au/LD

This paper explores the roles played by local collectors, often little-known or rarely remembered, in the compilation of Britain's Earlier (Lower and early Middle) Palaeolithic record, with reference to the work of C.E. (Charles) Bean at the Lower Palaeolithic site of Broom, and the activities of George Smith and Llewellyn and Mabel Treacher in the Middle Thames Valley. Their collecting practices, publication record, and archaeological knowledge and insights are reviewed, and their impacts assessed with reference to the activities of other contemporary collectors, and the regional archaeological records of the south-west and the Middle Thames. Their archives demonstrate that while the key sites and artefact assemblages sampled by Bean, Smith and the Treachers would not otherwise have been unknown, their work left important legacies in terms of rich artefact assemblages, site archives (Bean), and the long-term monitoring of key sites and fluvial terraces.