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Monument details

HER Number:TQ 75 NW 183
Type of record:Findspot
Name:Palaeolithic artefacts (mostly handaxes) from Ham Hill Pits, Birling

Summary

Palaeolithic artefacts (mostly handaxes) from Ham Hill Pits, Birling, mostly in British Museum but some also in Maidstone Museum, mostly coll in late 19th C and early 20th C

Grid Reference:TQ 6990 6070
Map Sheet:TQ66SE
Parish:EAST MALLING AND LARKFIELD, TONBRIDGE AND MALLING, KENT

Monument Types

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

Associated Finds

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

Full description

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Material from site first documented by Roe (1), and then included in Southern Rivers Palaeolithic Project (2, 3), and then reviewed for Medway Valley Palaeolithic Project (4). Collections from the site are held by the British Museum, Maidstone Museum and Rochester Museum. Greatest part of material is in the Burchell coll at the British Museum. This includes 18 handaxes of various forms (pointed, sub-cordate, ovate and cleaver) including several very fine specimens, as well two Levallois flakes. Other holdings from these pits include material collected by WH Cook and B Harrison (held at Maidstone Museum and Rochester Museum), and parts of the Wellcome and Institute of Archaeology collections, held at the British Museum. Precise location of findspots is uncertain; there were two main areas of quarrying, one (TQ 69770 60700) c. 100m to west of the specified point-location for this HER, and the other (TQ 70115 60725) c. 100m to the east. The Medway Valley Palaeolithic Project review (4) identified this as a potentially key area for further investigation, with topography and borehole records suggesting up to four different terraces in close proximity up the valley side


<1> Roe, D.A., 1968, Gazetteer of British Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Sites, p139 (Monograph). SWX6570.

<2> Wessex Archaeology, 1993, The Southern Rivers Palaeolithic Project, Report No.2: The South West and South of the Thames [Vol. I - text], M4.11 (Monograph). SWX6569.

<3> Wessex Archaeology, 1993, The Southern Rivers Palaeolithic Project: maps for Report No. 2, Regions 4 & 1, The South West and South of the Thames [Vol II - maps], M4.11 (Unpublished document). SKE12023.

<4> Wenban-Smith F. F., Bates M.R and Marshall G., 2007, Medway Valley Palaeolithic Project Final Report: The Palaeolithic Resource in the Medway Gravels (Kent) (Unpublished document). SKE29351.

Sources and further reading

Cross-ref. Source description
<1>Monograph: Roe, D.A.. 1968. Gazetteer of British Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Sites. 1-355. p139.
<2>Monograph: Wessex Archaeology. 1993. The Southern Rivers Palaeolithic Project, Report No.2: The South West and South of the Thames [Vol. I - text]. M4.11.
<3>Unpublished document: Wessex Archaeology. 1993. The Southern Rivers Palaeolithic Project: maps for Report No. 2, Regions 4 & 1, The South West and South of the Thames [Vol II - maps]. M4.11.
<4>Unpublished document: Wenban-Smith F. F., Bates M.R and Marshall G.. 2007. Medway Valley Palaeolithic Project Final Report: The Palaeolithic Resource in the Medway Gravels (Kent).