Research Items

Abstract

Excavations at Brundon, Suffolk THE gravel pit at Brundon, near Sudbury, Suffolk, affording a rare opportunity of examining a true interglacial bed, a research committee was appointed by the British Association for the purpose of its excavation. The actual work of conducting the examination was carried out under the supervision of the committee by J. Reid Moir in 1935–37, by whom a report on the work of excavation and the archæological material has been prepared, while A. Tindell Hopwood has reported on the fossil mammals. (Proc. Prehist. Soc., 5, 1; 1939). The Brundon section, the base of which lies approximately at 100 ft. O.D., is composed of Upper and Lower Glacial deposits separated by fiuviatile beds. The geological, archæological and palæontological evidence points to the probability that the basal Boulder Clay at Brundon was laid down by the Upper Chalky Boulder Clay glaciation. The age of the upper glacial deposit remains uncertain; but it may be that of the Brown Boulder Clay of Hunstanton, Norfolk. At the base of the fluviatile gravel (Stratum 3) at Brundon are traces of an ancient land surface, rich in mammalian remains and non-marine Mollusca. At this level occur unabraded and unpatinated flint implements and flakes of Crayfordian types. The evidence of the fossil bones and shells also points to the deposit being of the period named, post-dating the glaciation responsible for laying down of the Upper Chalky Boulder clay, a conclusion supported by the discovery of Baker's Hole type of implements with the unabraded artefacts. The former are patinated, abraded and striated, suggesting that they had experienced glacial conditions before reaching the Brundon ancient land surface. In the fluviatile gravel implements of various ages have been found—Early Clactonian, Early and Late Acheulean, Baker's Hole and Crayfordian. The upper glacial deposits have yielded a few indeterminate flakes only. There is good reason to believe that the climate during the laying down of the fluviatile deposits was warmer than that of to-day, and that the Brundon section represents a true interglacial accumulation, resting upon and surmounted by deposits laid down during a period of extreme cold.