Actes du Colloque "Cultures et industries paléolithiques en milieu loessque", Amiens 9-11 décembre 1986. Revue archéologique de Picardie n°1-2, 1988

FLAKING TECHNOLOGY AT THE ACHEULEAN SITE OF BOXGROVE, WEST SUSSEX (England)

by C.A. BERGMAN and M.B. ROBERTS *

Introduction

:

The Acheulean site at Amey's Eartham Pit, Boxgrove (SU924085), is located in the country of West Sussex in south-east England about 5 km east of Chichester (fig. 1). The excavations are contained within a quarry worked by Amey Roadstone Corporation for the extraction of sand and gravel. Eartham Pit is situated at the northern edge of the upper coastal plain (Hodgson 1967), where the plain abuts the truncated dipslope of the South Downs. The region is well known for its Lower Palaeolithic sites especially those along the line of the 'Goodwood-Slindon' 40 m raised beach : Boxgrove, Lavant and Slindon (Woodcock 1981 ; Roberts et al., 1986).

In 1983 it was decided to examine in more detail the geological deposits at Eartham Pit (fig. 2). The

Fig. 1 : Map of southern England with location of Amey's Eartham Pit (A.E.P.), Boxgrove.

results of the initial survey revealed the existence of an extensive archaeological honzon with flint artefacts. As this horizon was under threat from quarrying, the Department of the Environment of England and Wales funded a trial excavation. The excavation uncovered a series of in situ débitage scatters associated with biface manufacture. On the strength of these results further funding was obtained and excavation continued over the next three seasons (1984-1986); additional work is expected to take place in the summer of 1987.

Geology

The immediate palaeogeography in the area of the site is mainly the result of marine action. An inter- glacial sea level rise greater than the present level resulted in the planation of the Tertiairy deposits of the lower coastal plain and erosion back into the chalk dipslope in the upper coastal plain. This led

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