500,000-8500 BC Palaeolithic

The River Thames and its tributary valleys were an important focus for human occupation during the Palaeolithic. Originally the Thames flowed 40 km to the north of London through the Vale of St Albans. About 450,000 years ago a major ice sheet blocked the flow of the river, and forced it south into its present valley.

Many sites are preserved in the gravels and silts laid down by the Thames. At Swanscombe in Kent thousands of handaxes have been found in gravels that mark the former course of the river about 400,000 years ago. Part of a woman’s skull was also found, with some features suggesting that she was a very early Neanderthal.

A Neanderthal workshop site was located during quarrying on a tributary of the Thames at Baker’s Hole in Kent, and dates to about 250,000 years ago. The manufacture of Middle Palaeolithic tools using Levallois technique was the main activity at the site.

Many later sites are also preserved. At Beedings, near Pulborough in Sussex, a series of spearheads called ‘leaf-points’ have been recovered from a fissure in the Lower Greensand bedrock. The technique of manufacture is similar to that used at sites in Germany and Poland and probably dates to about 35,000 years ago.