Mapping Project Home Page


	The Boxgrove site is of international significance for the study of archaeology, geology and palaeoecology in the MiddlePleistocene. However, the east-west extent of the sediments of the Slindon and Eartham Formations that preserve thisdata is unknown. Landform survey and boreholing suggest that these deposits may be widely distributed. Thus, the detailed mapping of these sediments is an essential first step for future Quaternary research in this region.

	Thanks to continued funding and support from English Heritage, a two year surveying and mapping project is being undertaken up by the Boxgrove Project team. Its aims are to delinate the surving extent of the sediments and identify archaeologically sensitive deposits similar to those originally investigated at the Boxgrove site. The project will therefore provide a detailed record of the Pleistocene geology of the higher coastal plain in West Sussex. Detailed mapping of the extent of the geological formations is necessary so that informed decisions may be made as part of the planning process, especially where aggregate extraction is envisaged. Similarly, mapping of the buried Pleistocene landscape is also desirable to afford protection to the sediments, perhaps in the form of designation as a World Heritage Site.

	Five separate study areas between Worthing and Havant have been individually examined during the course of theproject. Fieldwork, in the form of boreholes, test pitting, electrical tomography, is being targetted at critical areasof the palaeolandscape (see our Methods Page for more details). This work is providing new datasets in the form of detailed logging of lateral sediment variation and palaeoenvironmental samples. Examples are given on our Results Page.

	Detailed landscape reconstructions and 3D environmental modelling allow a greater understanding of the spatial context of human actvity at the site and help developed predictive tools for future prospection. Click on the picture to the left to download a fly-through movie of the Boxgrove embayment 500kyr ago (Requires Flash 6)