The Archaeological Potential of Secondary Contexts

The project assesses the Palaeolithic stone tool assemblages recovered from the flood deposits of Middle and Late Pleistocene (787-11,000 BP) rivers in the UK (described as archaeological secondary contexts). The stone tool assemblages are distributed across southern Britain, while Pleistocene flood (fluvial) deposits are distributed throughout the UK. The stone tool assembalges and their associated fluvail deposits vary in age from at least 700,000 years old to the end of the Paleolithic period (c. 11,000 years BP). The importance of archaeological secondary contexts therefore stems from their widespread geopgraphical distribution and extensive chronological coverage.
This project assesses the value of the archaeological secondary context resource in terms of th eunique spatio-temporal structure of the data, assembalge taphononmy, appropriate analytical frameworks and the potential of the resource for current and future understanding of the Palaeolithic period. The project report discusses a series of key themes and case studies.