NHER 5795 (Find Spot record) - Palaeolithic handaxes and other worked flints, Red Hill, Abbey Heath

Red Hill is one of a several sites to the north-west of Thetford where Palaeolithic artefacts were recovered in the 19th century, during quarrying of the gravel deposits flanking the Little Ouse river. The first implements were found at this site in around 1866 by a quarryman who brought his finds to the attention of Henry Prigg, a local antiquarian. Over the following months a significant number of additional finds were recovered during visits by John Evans, Henry Prigg and John Wickham Flower. These discoveries were first reported in (S1) and (S2) and they were also discussed in some detail by Evans a number of years later (S3).

SITE LOCATION

Although the exact location of this site is unclear it is recorded that Red Hill was a name given by the quarrymen to this part of Abbey Heath, on account of the red colouration of the gravel (S4) (S5). Consequently, it has never been a name marked on any maps. The approximate position of Red Hill is shown on the sketch map that accompanies (S6) and it is described in (S1) as lying close to the “second stanch” on the river. A section that accompanies this article suggests that the site lay roughly 200m to the east of the river, on a line between Thetford Warren Lodge (NHER 2760) and a brick works on the Mundford Road (NHER 5944). Wymer (S7) has stated that the Redhill workings now lie beneath one of the industrial estates on the outskirts of Thetford, although this does not tally with the grid reference given (TL 858 848). He was mistaken in stating that the site is accurately located by (S1). A different grid reference is given for this site by (S8) (TL 862 200) and it would appear that this is also incorrect, placing the site to the east of the railway line. A site on the west bank of the river has also been suggested as a possible location of Red Hill (NHER 34760; now revoked). Although there has clearly been much confusion regarding the location of the site, an approximate position can be established from the description given in (S1) and the record has been mapped on the basis of this information.

It should be noted that LiDAR imagery has now also revealed evidence for former quarry workings within the mapped extent of this record (see below).

CIRCUMSTANCES OF DISCOVERY

As noted above these finds were recovered during the extraction of flint gravels from the low terrace that flanks the east bank of the Little Ouse. The artefacts were recovered from a thick layer of ferruginous gravel that lay above the chalk, several metres below the ground surface. This deposit was described in (S2) as “…slightly rolled and sub-angular flints in an ochreous sandy matrix, with seams of silt and chalky detritus…”. The flints were larger towards the base of the deposit and it was here that the majority of the artefacts were apparently recovered, although Evans (S3) also notes that some were recovered above and below some the sandier seams.

A significant number of artefacts are known to have been recovered from the site, with Flower reporting that he himself found over 50 implements (S1). In 1881 Prigg estimated that up to 6000 implements had been recovered from this site (S9). Two handaxes from this site are illustrated in (S1) and a further four in (S3). One of the handaxes illustrated by Evans (S3) was discussed by Reid Moir in an article on the possible early Palaeoliths he named Rosto-Carinates (S12) (many of which would now be considered to be of natural origin).

According to Evans (S3) the site also produced a large number of worked flakes, many of which bore signs of secondary working and/or use. One of the retouched flakes from this site is illustrated in (S3).

According to (S2) a range of faunal remains were also recovered from this site, including bones of elephant, horse, bison and deer.

FINDS IN MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

A number of the finds from this site survive in museum collections, although they are now much dispersed. Roe (S10) identified 89 artefacts:
66 handaxes.
4 unfinished/roughout handaxes.
1 core.
5 retouched flakes/flake implements.
11 unretouched flakes.
2 miscellaneous fragments.
These were held by the Brighton Museum, the British Museum, the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (CUMAA), the Sedgewick museum in Cambridge, the Norwich Castle Museum (NCM), the Ashmolean and the Pitt Rivers museums in Oxford, the Blackmore Museum in Salisbury and the York Museum. In 1907 W. G. Clarke listed a number of other museums as holding material from this site, including the Ipswich Museum, the Moyse’s Hall Museum in Bury St. Edmunds and the museum of the Scottish Society of Antiquaries in Edinburgh (S11). The presence of material in Ipswich Museum was confirmed by Wymer (S7), who also identified finds from this site in the Bedford Museum and in the Natural History collections of the British Museum.

Different authors have clearly made different judgements on which finds can be positively identified as coming from this site. As noted by Wymer (S7) the volume of material recorded as being recovered from Red Hill makes it highly likely that many of the finds in museum collections recorded simply as coming from ‘Thetford’ or the ‘Little Ouse valley’ were in fact from this site. See NHER 5798 for further information on the poorly provenanced Palaeolithic material from the Thetford area and NHER 11166 for details on the 'Little Ouse Valley' finds.

The majority of the surviving artefacts from this site are handaxes, although the exact number is unclear. Roe (S10) identified a total of 66 handaxe and four handaxe roughouts, while Wymer (S7) lists 77 handaxes; this latter total including additional material from the British Museum natural history collections and a small number of implements he classified as cleavers.

Wymer typological chart for the site included the following handaxes/cleavers (some incomplete examples possibly excluded):
1 Bedford Museum.
13 British Museum (PRBA).
15 British Museum (Natural History, ex Lady Prestwich, 1896).
1 Ipswich Museum.
3 Norwich Castle Museum.
29 Ashmolean, Oxford.
14 Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford.

It appears that relatively few flakes and flake implements survive. The implements identified by Wymer (S7) include a side-scraper and a possible Levallois flake with secondary working.

Ashmolean Museum:
As noted above Wymer identified 29 handaxes from Redhill in the Ashmolean Museum. These will include:
1 handaxe (AN1887.3023).
1 handaxe (AN1959.19).
The remaining handaxes are presumably amongst as large collection of 37 handaxe from "Redhill" (AN1928.162.d-t; AN1928.163.a-t), although the museum's current records list the majority as being from Reigate, Surrey. Although prehistoric flints are known to have been recovered at this site in Surrey there is no evidence than any were Palaeolithic. The reference to Surrey is therefore likely to be an error. In 1975 A. L. Lawson examined the Ashmolean's accession registers and noted these collections as being amongst the material from Redhill, Thetford (previously noted under NHER 34760, now revoked).

A core from Redhill (1959.20) was also amongst the objects listed by Lawson in 1975. This may well be the core from Redhill listed by Roe (S10).

The possible Levallois flake with secondary working noted by Wymer (S7) was in the Ashmolean but its location is unclear.

Bedford Museum:
According to (S17) Wymer identified several objects from Redhill in this museum (2492-7), including:
2 handaxes (2494; 2497).
1 side scraper (2497). This is probably the implement noted in (S7).
The other pieces are not described but are presumably flakes.

British Museum:
The British Museum's current records suggest that it holds 48 objects from Red Hill, in the following collections:
2 handaxes. Christy collection (2011,8059.88).
26 handaxes and 6 flakes. Ex Salisbury and Wiltshire Museum (1975,0306.28-59). Possibly the material from Salisbury noted by Roe (S10)
10 handaxes and 4 flakes. Sturge collection (2011,8109.741-742).
Information from museum records.

A number of flakes from Redhill were also amongst the unregistered material in the British Museum examined by E. Rose (NAU) in 1974 (S15).

Norwich Castle Museum:
The implements in the Norwich Castle Museum include:
1 handaxe. J. Gunn Collection (NWHCM : 1868.50).
1 handaxe. Beloe Collection (NWHCM : 1908.22.73). Apparently identified as a chopper in (S13). Information from (S14).
The location of the third handaxe identified by Wymer is unclear.

Pitt Rivers Museum:
The Pitt Rivers holds a number of Palaeolithic objects that were recovered in the Thetford during the late 19th century. Roe appears to have regarded all of these objects as being from Red Hill, the Pitt Rivers not being included in his list of museums that hold unprovenanced Palaeolithic material from Thetford. Wymer appears to have come to the same conclusion, including 14 handaxes from the Pitt Rivers on his Red Hill typological chart (S7). Although Wymer states that he only included material that could be confidently associated with this site it should be noted that only two objects are currently recorded by the Pitt Rivers as being from Red Hill:
1 possible flake implement (1884.122.13).
1 probably handaxe (1884.122.20).
Both are part of the museum's founding collection. As the other objects cannot be conclusively associated with this site they are now recorded with the other poorly provenanced Palaeolithic material Thetford, under NHER 5798.

Yorkshire Museum:
Wymer identified a handaxe from Redhill in the Yorkshire Museum following the publication of (S7).
Information from (S15) and (S17). See sketch on (S17).

The various Palaeolithic discoveries made at this site are also summarised in (S16) and (S8).

THE NATURE OF THE PALAEOLITHIC ASSEMBLAGE

Like Flower (S1) Wymer (S7) notes the predominance of pointed and sub-cordate handaxe forms and also emphasises the similarity between this assemblage and the material recovered from the nearby Broomhill Pit (NHER 5642). It was thought highly likely that these two sites represent the same episode of activity.

Wymer (S7) also notes that the surviving flakes from this site are mainly rolled.

P. Watkins (HES), 26 June 2013 and February 2016.

RECENT INVESTIGATIONS

October 2017. Trial Trenching.
Investigation of the Red Hill pits as part of the Leverhulme-Trust funded Breckland Palaeolithic Project.
Two sections are to be cut into the former faces of two old gravel pits that lie to either side of a forest track at c. TL 851 841. These pits are visible on LiDAR imagery, which shows a linear band of what are presumably former quarry workings at this location.
The sections are to be cut in order to reveal intact sediments relating to terraces of the Little Ouse river, which can then be sampled for electron spin resonance (ESR) dating on quartz. This work will help to establish the geological context of the significant archaeological assemblage recovered at this location.
See Method Statement (S18) for further information (including LiDAR imagery). Details of results awaited.
P. Watkins (HES), 2 October 2017.