Faunal analyses as an aid to understanding palaeoenvironmental contexts of Pleistocene archaeology.

This project aims to investigate Middle/Late Pleistocene archaeological sites in SE Britain and NW Europe, with particular emphasis on faunal evidence for environments and ages of deposition. It stems from the requirement for expertise of this type on the part of the CASE partner, Wessex Archaeology, which is engaged in providing archaeological evaluation and rescue excavation of important Quaternary Palaeolithic sites, especially in SE England, where development pressures have been high in recent times. There is a need for geo-archaeological expertise to underpin the study of the sediments in which early artefacts occur, this research field being at the interface between geology and archaeology. Wessex will provide key training in procedures and techniques of field archaeology and geoarchaeology, in particular recording, sampling and use of geographical information systems (specially adapted for archaeological use). Cambridge Zoology will provide training in analyses and identification of fossils, in particular molluscs and ostracods, both good indicators of the environment at the time of deposition and Palaeolithic occupation; both also provide important indications of salinity and therefore sea-level. Mollusc fossils can be used for dating, by analysis of changes in their amino acid content, which will assist the project by providing a chronological underpinning of the studied sequences. Durham Geography will provide training in recording and analyses of sedimentary sequences from the point of view of fluvial and other depositional processes, essential for understanding the emplacement of the river terrace sequences that host the archaeology and environmental evidence. The PhD will result in full investigation of key Palaeolithic sequences and the placing of these in an international geological and environmental context.