The Implements and Cores of Crayford

Abstract

The well-known brick-earth deposits of Crayford, in Kent (forming part of the so-called 50-ft., or middle terrace of the Thames), have for many years yielded flint implements of Mousterian type, and more recently (1910-12) I have succeeded in finding the cores from which such implements were struck.In the closing decades of the last century long, slender knives of fine quality flint were abundant, but since the writer first came to have the pits under observation (in 1903) implements of all kinds have been rare, and many winters go by with only the discovery of a few simple flakes.References up till 1889 are given in the “Geology of London,” and, in 1905, Messrs. Hinton and Kennard brought them up to date in their paper on “The Relative Ages of the Stone Implements of the Lower Thames Valley,” This valuable paper was the first to attribute the characteristic Crayford implement to the Mousterian period, on account of the similarity in workmanship to those from Le Moustier.

The Early Middle Palaeolithic in Britain: archaeology, settlement history and human behaviour

“…russula Figure 5 Section through the Ebbsfleet Channel sediments excavated by the British Museum (modified after Kerney and Sieveking (1977) and Bridgland (1994)) large numbers of in situ laminar Levallois artefacts, many conjoinable, in association with animal bones. Similar finds were later made in adjacent pits (Chandler, 1914(Chandler, , 1916. The basic sequence comprises brickearth above gravel-the former divided into lower fluviatile and upper colluvial components (Fig.…”

“…The molluscs reveal a slow-flowing river, with little aquatic vegetation and non-marshy banks set in dry, open grassland; woodland and semi-aquatic species are sparse. The western edge of the river was set against Chalk and Thanet Sand that provided abundant flint (Spurrell, 1880b;Chandler, 1914Chandler, , 1916. The mammals show a similar range of environments and famously contain a mixture of cold-and warm-loving species, which, according to Schreve (1997), may be explained by more continental temperate conditions in Britain at this time, with warmer summers but harsher winters.…”

A Levallois Knapping Site at West Thurrock, Lower Thames, UK: its Quaternary Context, Environment and Age

“…), indicating the continuation of this technology into MIS 7. At Crayford, these same Aveley Member interglacial deposits have yielded primary-context Levallois material, found during manual excavation of the many brick pits there (Spurrell 1880;Chandler 1916;Kennard 1944). Importantly, the record from Crayford reveals that human (Levallois) occupation continued into the MIS 7 interglacial, since conjoinable artefacts were found there (Spurrell 1880) within the body of the 'Crayford brickearth' (= Aveley Silts and Sands Member).…”

Prehistory of the British Isles: A Tale of Coming and Going

“…The oldest human fossils in Wales found so far come from Pontnewydd Cave, which has been dated to about 225,000 years ago [25,26], and comprise teeth of early Neanderthal adults and children ( Figure 7). The Mousterian industry was also found at Crayford, Kent [27,28]. Additionally, more than 250,000 lithic artefacts were found on the other side of the Channel at the site of La Cotte and although this site is now on the island of Jersey, the island was connected to mainland France during periods of Neanderthal occupation.…”