Evidence of the palaeolithic: a digital reconstruction, prior to the landfill, of Rookery Farm, Lower Kingswood, UK

Working paper

The use of digital geospatial methods to reconstruct lost and/or buried landscaped has become an essential tool of archaeological exploration. Inherently, the level of success depends on the availability of information and the construction of comprehensive datasets. Discussed in this research report, are the various techniques and procedures undertaken by the PADMAC Unit over several years, to establish the location of a ‘lost’ Palaeolithic knapping-site which was originally revealed during the construction of a landfill site in a small dry valley at Rookery Farm, Lower Kingswood, Surrey during 1959. The knapping-site was described by L.W. Carpenter to have been situated on the deposits mapped as Clay-with-flints at the edge of the high plateau, overlooking the valley. Subsequent infilling of this valley destroyed and buried the site (the area has now been returned to agricultural use). The report of this specific discovery and the fact that throughout the 1950s and 1960s Carpenter had also found many Palaeolithic artefacts as surface-finds in this area inspired others to search for further evidence of the Palaeolithic. Surveys of Rookery Farm and the immediate area, were undertaken, trenches dug by F.F. Pemberton and artefacts found, but the question of the exact location of the ‘lost’ knapping-site remained, as did the concerns regarding the location of the Pemberton trenches and the effects of the construction of the landfill site on the integrity of the more recent Palaeolithic finds in the area.

To better understand site formation in the archaeological area of Rookery Farm, the PADMAC Unit embarked on a long-term plan of geophysical investigations; soil/sediment analyses; geospatial 3D modelling, spatial analyses and Palaeolithic artefact technological analysis in an attempt to both model the location of the ‘knapping site’ and the Pemberton trenches and to resolve questions regarding the integrity of the Palaeolithic surface-scatters/sites on the deposits mapped as Clay-with-flints. Comprehensive datasets were constructed from the results of the Rookery Farm, borehole and trial pit investigations commissioned by Surrey County Council and Reigate & Banstead Borough Council. Additional material in the form of annotated maps, letters regarding the infilling (rubbish tipping) at Rookery Farm and ecological assessments, were also made available to the PADMAC Unit. To determine the potential of the Rookery Farm assemblages to yield a source information on the behaviour of Palaeolithic people, a technological analysis of the artefacts was made, and the results compared and contrasted with data the PADMAC Unit had obtained from the geoarchaeological investigation of other high-level Palaeolithic sites on deposits mapped as Clay-with-flints in the UK. Also, the raised-beach Palaeolithic site at Boxgrove, Sussex.

Authors: Scott-Jackson, J

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: PADMAC Unit
• Publication date: 2014-01-01
• Edition: Updated Publisher's version
• ISBN: 9781910325001
• Language: English
• Keywords: geophysics; GIS; Clay-with-flints; Palaeolithic
• Subjects: Archaeology; Landscape