The October Lecture was given by Professor Chris Stringer who is Professor of Natural History at the Natural History Museum. Professor Stringer is head of a group set up last October, with a budget of some £2.5 million to produce a document on the early occupation of Britain. Although a lot of work exists on this no overall document has been produced and it is the work of this project to formalize it.

Man evolved in Africa some 2 million years ago and then spread over the rest of the world. During that time he evolved from Erectus through many stages to present day man. The latter stages included Heidelbergensis, Neanderthal and Sapiens. In spreading he also needed to adapt to climatic changes.

During this development period there were a number of ice ages with the last one finishing about 20,000 years ago. Since this time the climate has been relatively stable with Britain being kept warm by the Gulf Stream. However in previous inter glacials the climate was not stable and the temperature varied considerably and frequently. At the last ice age (when Britain was half covered in ice) and during cold periods in the inter glacials it is thought that man could not survive in Britain.

The evidence for man in Britain comes from a number of sites which show that man was here, but do not demonstrate continuous occupation. One of the objectives of the project is to give more details of the various periods of occupation.

The sites under investigation include Boxgrove, which shows evidence of Heidelbergensis from about 500,000 years ago, Swanscombe, which shows occupation 100,000 years ago by man more advanced than Heidelbergensis and more recent sites. The project will also look at forms of human occupation other than skeletal remains such as evidence of tool making and of the flora and fauna of the relevant time and their interaction with man The project will look at DNA and Isotope evidence to evaluate diet, the various waves of immigration and whether the various forms and species co existed.

We look forward to seeing the results of the Project, especially as some of us have been fortunate enough to hear Mark Roberts lecture about his work at Boxgrove, and visit the site..

Mike Lapworth