Norfolk Heritage Explorer

Location

Full description

A large number of Palaeolithic flint handaxes were recovered at this location when a new quarry pit was opened during the 1920s. At this time the site was part of an area of land that was utilised as a sewage farm by the Norwich Corporation. As a result this pit has generally been referred to as the Whitlingham Sewage Farm pit. The first Palaeolithic artefacts were discovered here by J. E. Sainty and H. H. Halls in1926, fairly soon after the pit was first opened. Many further artefacts were recovered in the coming months and Sainty and Halls published a paper on the results of their investigations the following year (S1). Although discovered nearly 100 years ago, Whitlingham remains one of the county’s best-recorded Lower Palaeolithic sites.

CIRCUMSTANCES OF DISCOVERY AND RECORDED EVENTS

The pit that produced this Palaeolithic assemblage is accurately located in (S1), in which it is described as "…cut into a gently sloping eminence which projects towards the north-east and merges at length into the alluvial flats". The archaeological significance of the site was first recognised by Sainty and Halls in February 1926, when an hour spent searching the stone heaps in the base of the pit resulted in the discovery of 10 handaxes. Following these initial discoveries the workmen in the quarry were encouraged to identify and retain further specimens, and provision was made for the material recovered to be acquired by the Norwich Castle Museum.

A subsequent grant from the Percy Sladen Memorial Fund enabled Sainty and Halls to undertake archaeological excavations at the site, the principal focus of which was to determine the exact provenance of the artefacts recovered. This work, which is described in detail in (S1), begun in February 1927. Unfortunately by this time the pit’s sections were largely obscured by loose material and it had also suffered an accidental influx of sewage water. Three sections were however excavated, two within the pit itself and one close to its opening. It was shown that the bulk of the Palaeolithic material was derived from a gravel layer present at a depth of approximately 7-8ft [2.1-2.4m] below the ground surface, beneath a sequence of clayey deposits. A number of white or grey patinated flakes were also recovered from a sandy clay above the gravel. It was thought likely that this deposit was the source of a number of previously-collected artefacts that were of a similar condition.

It is recorded that in total 543 objects were recovered at the site, including 173 "handaxes or choppers", 10 "points or racloirs", 12 objects that "are probably knives" and 50 scrapers. The remaining pieces were "flake implements" and waste flakes. The excavated assemblage comprised 13 "hand axes or choppers", 26 scrapers, 1 "point", 35 "worked flakes" and 180 flakes. No faunal remains were recovered.

The discoveries at this site were also subsequently described by Sainty in (S2) and noted in numerous other publication.
See also (S3) and (S4). The more recent interpretations of the material are discussed in more detail below.

RECENT EVENTS

23 October 1980. Site Visit.
Visit by A. Lawson (NAU) and J. J. Wymer.
Site in arable field at this time. Extensive quarrying still evident with the implentiferous pit, which had been backfilled, still discernible as a slight hollow.
Notes compiled by A. Lawson. Information from (S5). Also noted in (S6).

March 1982 and October 1984. Fieldwalking.
Finds recovered in the vicnity of this site during fieldwalking but not necessary from the pit itself.
These finds included a possible Middle Palaeolithic Levallois flake.
Previously detailed under this record but now recorded under NHER 31388.

FINDS IN MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

When considering the surviving material from this site it is important that a distinction is made between the flints from the Sewage Farm pit and those with either a general Whitlingham or Kirby Bedon provenance, which are likely to from other pits in this area.

The material that can be securely attributed to the Sewage Farm pit is listed in (S7) and described in more detail in (S8). It is also summarised in (S9) and (S10).

Roe (S7) gives only a rough estimate of c. 200 for the number of handaxes from the Sewage Farm site. It is noted that numerous other implements and flakes were found but no totals are given. The Norwich Castle Museum, the Birmingham Museum, the Sedgwick Museum (Cambridge) and the British Museum (Natural History collections) are listed as holding material from this site.

Norwich Castle Museum (NCM):

The Norwich Castle Museum holds the bulk of the surviving material from this site, reflecting arrangements that were put in place after the first artefacts were recovered. According to (S3) the NCM hold 195 core tools and 362 flakes and flake tools from Whitlingham Sewage Farm. The majority of these objects are part of a collection that was donated by the Norwich Sewage and Irrigation Committee in 1928 (NWHCM : 1928.54). This collection is recorded by (S3) as comprising 163 "core tools" and 354 flakes/flake tools and presumably includes the majority of the objects described and figured in (S1) as well as the pieces described and illustrated in (S8) ((S11) and (S12)).

The NCM subsequently acquired several additional collections of material from this site. These are listed by (S3) as:
2 "core tools" and 5 flakes (NWHCM : 1950.114.1). Ex T. F. Newnam’s collection.
1 handaxe (NWHCM : 1959.436). Ex A. L. Armstrong collection. See sketch (S13).
4 handaxes (NWHCM : 1977.124.7). Ex H. Apling, previously J. E. Sainty collection. See photocopies (S14)-(S17).
The core tools in these smaller collections were presumably included by Wymer in the typological chart for the site in (S8).

Three additional NCM collections listed by (S3) are of an uncertain nature as they do not appear in the museum’s current records:
2 "core tools" (10.942). Ex R. J. Colman.
25 "core tools" and 3 flakes (61.944). Ex T. Matthews.
2 "core tools, probably from this site" (14.953). Ex E. M. Colman.
These objects may well have been incorporated into the main collection (NWHCM : 1928.54). The NCM’s records also indicate that it holds a collection of Palaeolithic "worked flint implements" from Kirby Bedon that were donated by Sainty in June 1927 (NWHCM : 1927.78.3). This collection is not listed by (Sa) and is not necessarily from the Sewage Farm site – it may well be surface material that was recovered during fieldwalking in the surrounding area.

Finds in other museums:

As only material from the NCM was included by Wymer in his typological chart for the site (S8) it must be assumed that any collections that remain in other museums are relatively small.

Although the British Museum prehistoric collections include a group of potentially Palaeolithic flints that are recorded are being from Whitlingham (all ex. Marston; unregistered), it is unlikely that these were recovered at the Sewage Farm. The majority of these flints are listed as being from "Crown Point" (1 handaxe and 62 flakes), which is almost certainly a reference to either a pit that lay to the south of Crown Point Hall, or one of the pits that was open near the river. The other flints in this collection (1 flake tool, 1 core and 9 flakes) are recorded simply as being from Whitlingham and were probably found in one of the pits near the river. During the early 20th century many supposedly worked flints were recovered from a 'sub crag' gravel deposit at Whitlingham (the "Stone Bed"), including the so-called "Norwich Test Specimen" (held by the British Museum but now recognised as natural). This and other discoveries from elsewhere in Whitlingham are noted in (S18), which also mentions a "huge flake implement" that had been recovered from the "Stone Bed" in 1928. This implement was apparently in the British Museum and therefore may well be one of the objects in the Marston collection.
As noted above the British Museum's Natural History collections were listed by Roe as holding material from this site. The only object from this site that has been identified to date is a primary flake (E1202) that was seen by Wymer and noted on (S22).

It is noted in (S19) that the Birmingham University Lapworth Museum holds a pointed handaxe and a flake from "Kirby Bedon"; both are presumably from this site. It is possible that these are the objects in Birmingham noted by Roe (although he listed material as being at the City Museum). Also noted on (S22).

The nature of the material seen by Roe at the Sedgwick Museum is unclear from his gazetteer and no other source makes any reference to material from Whitingham being held there.

THE NATURE OF THE PALAEOLITHIC ASSEMBLAGE

The Palaeolithic assemblage from this site is described in detail in (S1), which includes line drawings and photographs of many of the objects recovered. Sainty described the handaxes from this site as mostly "late Acheulian" although some were believed to be older "Chellean" implements. According to (S5) A. J. Lawson (NAU) noted that the material is certainly Acheulian, but the presence of Clactonian elements is extremely doubtful. Although Wymer recorded a proportion of the NCM’s handaxes as being crude or small, irregular types he nevertheless regarded the majority as "…one industry, irrespective of their refinement or lack of it" (S8). Wymer does however note that some of the rolled and striated implements could be derived from earlier deposits. The handaxe assemblage is similar to that which was subsequently recovered at nearby Keswick (NHER 9560), with both sites producing an unusually high proportion of cleavers. See (S20) and (S21) for detailed comparisons of these two assemblages.

The condition of the assemblage and the large number of flakes recovered led Sainty to suggest that the Sewage Farm assemblage represented a "veritable flaking site", in spite of the lack of evidence for an associated former land surface. The geological deposits exposed during Sainty and Halls’ excavations were examined by Prof. P. G. H. Boswell of Liverpool University and his descriptions and notes are included in (S1). The lowest deposit encountered was a reddish sand which is almost certainly a Norwich Crag deposit (lain down during a marine incursion before the start of the Palaeolithic). The nature of the implementiferous gravel suggested that it was a River Terrace deposit, lain down at a time when glacial melt-waters were flowing along the river valley. Boswell argued that at this time the Yare and other rivers were probably 'braided' and that "…as deposition and erosion occurred, the braids were continually changing position". Boswell argued that the Palaeolithic material had probably been deposited on the margins of one of these channels, the generally sharp or only slightly rolled condition of the implements making it highly unlikely that they had been moved far from where they were first deposited. Wymer concurred with this interpretation.

Establishing a precise date for this Lower Palaeolithic assemblage is difficult. All that can be said with confidence at present is that the Rivers Wensum and Yare themselves were both probably formed by the melt-waters of a retreating ice sheet although whether this occurred during the Anglian glaciation or at the end of a subsequent cold period is unclear. On this basis the Palaeolithic material from both Keswick and Whitlingham can only be said to date to one of the warmer periods between 450 and 250 ka BP. Wymer has however argued that the gravels of the Wensum and Yare were deposited at the end of a post-Anglian glaciation, with the condition of the material from Whitlingham suggesting that it may have been deposited not long before.

It remains unclear whether there was a significant later component to the Sewage Farm assemblage. Sainty regarded a proportion of the material as "Mousterian", including, it appears, some of the white-patinated pieces recovered from the layer above the implementiferous gravel. The pieces that Sainty regarded as Mousterian included a number of finely-made scrapers that Wymer regarded as typologically equivalent to scrapers from the Hoxne Upper Industry and High Lodge, Mildenhall. Wymer does however note that only one of the scrapers in the NCM’s collection had a white patina (S8).

Amended and expanded by P. Watkins (HES), 16 January 2016.

Monument Types

• FINDSPOT (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 1000000 BC to 40001 BC)
• LITHIC WORKING SITE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 1000000 BC to 40001 BC)

Associated Finds

• CLEAVER (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)
• FLAKE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)
• FLAKE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)
• FLAKE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)
• FLAKE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC? to 40001 BC?)
• HANDAXE (Lower Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 150001 BC)
• HANDAXE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)
• HANDAXE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)
• HANDAXE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)
• HANDAXE (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)
• HANDAXE? (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)
• SCRAPER (TOOL) (Lower Palaeolithic to Middle Palaeolithic - 500000 BC to 40001 BC)

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

Related records - none

Find out more...

• Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Norfolk (Period Overview)
• Parish Summary: Kirby Bedon (Parish Summary)