Late Quaternary (Upper Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Later Prehistoric) Human Activity in the Darrent Valley at Lullingstone Country Park, Eynsford, Kent

Between 2009 and 2011, Archaeology South-East carried out a series of excavations and watching briefs in advance of development at the Lullingstone Country Park, near Eynsford, Kent. The work, commissioned by Kent County Council, revealed a deep sequence of Pleistocene and Holocene slope deposits in the Darent river valley. In the upper part of this sequence high-resolution and apparently in situ stone artefacts were recovered which spanned the end of the last glacial period and into the Early Holocene. Key findings include a rich cluster of refitting Terminal Upper Palaeolithic flint artefacts characteristic of Lateglacial hunter-gatherer 'longblade'cultures and a more diffuse spread of Early Mesolithic flintwork, including microliths, as part of a preserved land surface. In addition later Neolithic and Bronze Age flintwork was found within and on the surface of Holocene colluvial deposits. Deeper geoarchaeological survey revealed these archaeologically-rich surface deposits were only the upper part of a deep sequence of sediments which spanned a period in excess of 100,000 years. At the base of this sequence, at 4m depth, organic deposits likely to date to the last interglacial period were recovered. These were overlain by cold climate solifluction deposits and in turn Holocene deposits which include Bronze Age bank and ditch features. Stone artefact refitting was targeted at the Terminal Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic material, giving insights into the technology and behaviour of hunter-gatherers occupying southern Britain at the transition between the last ice age and the emerging world of the Holocene.