Monument record BNC 081 - Beach at Benacre, (Palaeolithic).

2007: Group of Lower Palaeolithic handaxes from Benacre - being examined by Nicholas Ashton of British Museum (S1). Details to follow.

Note : cited NGR (S1) of TM 5348 8350 appears to br below Low Mean Water line (ie, in sea)! Presumably slightly too far east.

Note : handaxe BNC 079 found on beach nearby (deriving from same site?).

Within SSSI.

In early 2007 several handaxes and flakes were discovered by David Padfield following coastal cliff collapse at this locality (Fig. 6). The discovery prompted two days fieldwork. Initial indications were that the handaxes originated from a gravel-filled channel (Lithofacies D, below), clearly visible towards the top of the cliff section. The aim of the fieldwork was to confirm the context of the archaeological remains, record and interpret the stratigraphy of the cliff section and to take samples for dating and palaeoenvironmental analyses.
The c.6m high section is divisible into four major lithofacies (A-D). Lithofacies A, at the base of the cliff, consists of up to 2m of laminated sands, silts and clays. This is overlain by three separate lithofacies of sands and gravels (B-D). Lithofacies B consists of up to 4m of cross-stratified sands and gravels, containing predominantly rounded flint pebbles, many of which display chatter marks on their surfaces, suggesting a marine origin for the gravel. Lithofacies C is composed of tabular cross-bedded gravels and is fluvial in origin. The palaeoflow direction is towards the north east. Lithofacies D forms the filling of a c.40m wide channel feature cut into Lithofacies C. It consists of massive and bedded gravels and cross stratified sands.
Lithofacies A and B are interpreted as estuarine and shallow marine deposits respectively and both are considered to be part of the Norwich Crag Formation. Lithofacies A is possibly equivalent to the Easton Bavents Member, a fine-grained marine sediment laid down under cold conditions exposed some 5km to the south of Benacre. Lithofacies B is equated with the Westleton Member and is a marine beach deposit. Both these facies are Early Pleistocene in age.
Lithofacies C and D are both fluvial deposits. The lithology of the gravels and palaeoflow direction suggests a Thames origin and they are provisionally interpreted as part of the Kesgrave Formation, which are deposits of the pre-diversion ancestral Thames. Heavy mineral analysis, currently being undertaken by John Catt, may clarify the attribution of these gravels to the Kesgrave Formation. If this interpretation is correct then both facies are pre-Anglian in age, and date to at least 450,000 years ago.
Samples were taken for palaeoenvironmental analysis, however, no faunal or floral evidence has survived. A programme of luminescence dating on the sand horizons in Lithofacies C and D is planned to attempt to obtain an absolute age estimate for the site.
The fieldwork was also able to confirm the origin of the handaxes to Lithofacies D. Sieving of this gravel produced several flakes, one of which was probably from the manufacture of handaxes. At least ten handaxes were collected prior to the fieldwork at the site. They are generally in quite fresh condition, with only slight abrasion, and with variable amounts of patination and staining. There is no consistent shape to the handaxes, varying from elongated ovates to more pointed forms.
This locality adds to the increasing tally of Lower Palaeolithic sites along the coastal cliffs of Norfolk and Suffolk and may provide further evidence for human presence prior to the Anglian glaciation.
Acknowledgements: we would like to thank Lady Gooch, Edward Vere Nicoll and the Benacre Estate for permission to carry out the fieldwork. We are also grateful to Adam Burrows of Natural England for help and permission to work on the Benacre National Nature Reserve. The project was part of the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain Project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust (S4).