Palaeoliths from the lower reaches of the Bristol Avon

Abstract

The fact that the Pleistocene ice-sheets mantled so great a part of Britain was long regarded as sufficient explanation of the absence of Lower Palaeolithic remains from the territory south of a line drawn from the Wash to the Bristol Channel. Recent work and finds, however, show that during genial conditions early man certainly moved quite far into areas freed by the waning ice during periods of retreat. Thus, from extremes beyond those cited, there are reports of a few Lower Palaeolithic implements from Pleistocene gravels in the valley of the Trent in Lincolnshire, from the valley of the Don and from Huntow, in Yorkshire, and of an odd piece from Cheshire. But of most import to the present study are the Lower Palaeolithic stone tools from the basin of the Severn in the Midlands, and an Acheulian hand-axe has been found within the past few months at Pen-y-lan, near Cardiff. With the palaeoliths discovered at intermediate sites in the basin of this great river the range in the Atlantic drainage is extended from Somerset into once glaciated territory.