Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Palaeolithic levallois flakes from New Craylands Lane Pit (East), found in 1911-1913 in contorted clayey gravel capping the terrace sequence. (location accurate to the nearest 10m based on available information)

Monument Types

• FINDSPOT (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)

Associated Finds

• LEVALLOIS FLAKE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)

Full description

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Reginald Smith of the British Museum and Henry Dewey of the Geological Survey carried out the first methodical excavations of Craylands Pit in 1913 and 1914. The main outcome of these excavations was the production of the first sequence of deposits from the Lower to the Upper Gravels. Eventually they concentrated their excavations on the Lower Gravels, where they found evidence of a prolific Clactonian Flint industry of the Lower Palaeolithic date.(1)

Levallois flakes from New Craylands Lane Pit (East), found in 1911-1913 in contorted clayey gravel capping the terrace sequence, and reported by Smith and Dewey (2). They were separated from the underlying horizon with twisted ovates by a substantial thickness of sterile even-bedded sand and gravel. They thus represent a different, and possibly substantially later, phase of activity of very uncertain date. The material is listed by Roe (3) and discussed by Wymer (4). Site is included in the SRPP (5) and was visited and assessed for the ME survey (6).

<1> Wessex Archaeology, March 2004, Swanscombe Heritage Park and Craylands Gorge, Swanscombe, Kent. Archaeological and Geological Desk Based Assessment (Unpublished document). SWX12883.

<2> Smith R.A and Dewey H, 1914, The High Terrace of the Thames: report on excavations made on behalf of the British Museum and H.M. Geological Survey., p 189 - 190 (Article in serial). SKE32181.

<3> Roe, D.A., 1968, Gazetteer of British Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Sites, p 182 (Monograph). SWX6570.

<4> Wymer, JJ, 1968, Lower Palaeolithic Archaeology in Britain as represented by the Thames Valley., p 346, 351 (Monograph). SKE29697.

<5> Wessex Archaeology, 1993, The Southern Rivers Palaeolithic Project, Report No.2: The South West and South of the Thames [Vol. I - text], NWK 5.1(A) (Monograph). SWX6569.

<6> Essex County Council & Kent County Council, 2003, Archaeological Survey of Mineral Extraction Sites around the Thames Estuary, KT 568 & 795 (Unpublished document). SKE12012.

Sources and further reading