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

Abstract

A number of archaeological sites dated to MIS 8 and MIS 7 and containing Early Middle Palaeolithic Levalloisian assemblages can now be identified within the British Palaeolithic record. These provide a mixture of high- and low-resolution signatures, which together permit the reconstruction of aspects of early Neanderthal behaviour, settlement history and technological organisation within the British Isles. Much is certainly missing, but it is now possible to begin the task of disentangling the previously conflated Middle Palaeolithic, separating those sites belonging to the Middle Pleistocene from those dating to the last climatic cycle. This paper presents the first attempt to synthesise the data from the Early Middle Palaeolithic and presents some of our preliminary and tentatively held interpretations of what it might mean. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.