Recent investigations of Pleistocene sediments near Maidenhead, Berkshire, and their archaeological content

Abstract

Recent archaeological and geological assessment of Thames terrace deposits to the north of Maidenhead has been undertaken. The principal site investigated was at Furze Piatt, incorporating the important Palaeolithic localities of Cannoncourt Farm Pit and Cooper's Pit. The deposits form part of the Lynch Hill Terrace, although later sediments occur in addition to gravels deposited by the Thames. These later sediments comprise a predominantly fine-grained colluvial deposit (‘brickearth’) which is locally overlain by a tributary gravel. A temperate climate soil has been recognised in the ‘brickearth’ beneath this later gravel. Palaeolithic artefacts of predominantly Acheulian type occur within the Lynch Hill Gravel. Later artefacts, of probable Neolithic age, have been recovered from the ‘brickearth’.