Site Event/Activity record ESF20721 - Evaluation and Borehole Survey, Old Valley Brick Pit, Foxhall Road, Ipswich, (IAS 8903).

A geoenvironmental and archaeological investigation was carried out at the former Bull Motors and Celestion Works in advance of redevelopment, where Lower Palaeolithic remains, including 134 handaxes, had previously been recorded in a series of excavations between 1903 and 1921, when the site was a brick pit. A trial pit evaluation established that the significant Palaleolithic levels were sealed at a depth of 5m and would only be marginally affected by deep piling for the modern development. A trial trench successfully located the earlier excavation trenches, and boreholes were sunk to a depth of 6m to recover samples for geoenvironmental analysis. This established that the Palaleolithic activity took place beside a stream feeding a post-glacial lake that became filled with brickearth. The related Pleistocene deposits formed during the transition from the Anglian glacial period to the Hoxnian temperate period, and Optically Stimulate Luminescence dating gives a mean date of c. 425,000 BP. An Acheulian handaxe was found in a secondary context. Pollen did not survive and no faunal remains were recovered, but ostracods were present.