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Neanderthals Among Mammoths: Excavations at Lynford Quarry, Norfolk

This volume, published by English Heritage, is richly produced on high-quality paper and beautifully illustrated. The presentation of the Lynford Middle Palaeolithic site is done in a very thorough and thoughtful manner. On a general level, the organisation of the volume allows the reader to fully appreciate the significance of Lynford, a late Middle Palaeolithic open-air site located in Norfolk (England). The text is richly illustrated and typographical errors are few, which enhance the reading experience, and the annexes are useful and informative. A team of more than 30 scientists contributed to the volume. The editors have organised the contributions into six thematic chapters that form a very coherent structure and contain many examples of successful communication across disciplinary boundaries. There is some redundancy in the presentation of information, but surprisingly little given the size of the team. A collaborative, inter-disciplinary approach is particularly appropriate since the ecological context of the site, which has a complex depositional history, is just as important as the archaeological information it contains. Chapter 1 begins with a brief presentation of the history of the site, the context of the discovery of the archaeological and faunal material, subsequent excavation design and the management plan for the resulting collections. Lynford is an open-air archaeological site in a unique geographical setting that preserves valuable ecological data as well as evidence of a Neanderthal presence in Britain during the early stages of Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3). The chronological significance of the site is clear, since the archaeological record of the British Isles suggests an occupational hiatus between MIS 6 and 3. Lynford, therefore, offers a rare glimpse of the palaeoecological conditions that favoured recolonisation of the landscape during the late Middle Palaeolithic. Chapter 2 (entitled, ‘Stratigraphy, association B and dating’) describes the complex depositional history of Lynford. The archaeological and faunal materials were deposited in an abandoned channel feature that was in-filled under predominantly still or slowflowing water conditions, occasionally interrupted by high-energy flows that undercut the river banks, causing slumping of bank deposits (and associated archaeological material) into the palaeochannel. The channel fill, therefore, are a time-averaged accumulation of several slumping episodes. Subsequent chapters (e.g. Chapter 4) demonstrate that these episodes were essentially local. Establishing the age of the deposits presents several difficulties due to the limitations of radiocarbon dating (the faunal material in the channel lies beyond the limits of AMS) and taphonomic considerations that prevent the use of some techniques such as amino acid racemisation. Nevertheless, OSL dating of the channel deposits, AMS dating of overlying material and correlation with insect and pollen data indicate that the channel fill accumulated during the end of MIS 4 or an early phase of MIS 3. Given the information presented in Chapters 1 and 2, the importance of the environmental evidence, presented in Chapter 3, becomes clear. A multi-proxy climate record is contained within the Lynford deposits, which preserve insects and pollen together with mollusca and plant macrofossils. The entomological and palynological data are particularly useful for establishing the chronology of the site. Chapter 3 consists of five sections describing the environmental evidence. The overall impression is of a fluvial environment within a larger, regional landscape comprised open grassland with small stands of trees (birch and pine). Comparison with the environmental record at Upton Warren indicates overall similarities but also differences, offering clues as to the complex conditions that existed during early MIS 3. The mammalian assemblage at Lynford is taxonomically limited (see Chapter 4) but indicative of a classic ‘mammoth steppe’ fauna which may have contributed to maintaining grassland at the expense of tree cover. Small mammals, fish, amphibians and birds suggest a predominantly cold, continental climate, with low precipitation (little snow cover) and the existence of wetlands in the vicinity of the site. Chapter 4 (‘Deposit and assemblage formation’) draws upon Chapters 2 and 3 to reconstruct the history of the channel deposits (unit B-ii) and the archaeological material they contain. Convincing