Stoke Newington: geoarchaeology of the Palaeolithic ‘floor’

The archaeological importance of Stoke Newington lies in the recognition there in the nineteenth century of a Palaeolithic occupation horizon. Several attempts have been made in the last thirty years to relocate this horizon, but without success. A review of the nineteenth century accounts and of more recent investigations suggests that any evidence of Palaeolithic occupation is unlikely to be present as a simple, unique and readily traceable surface. The findings point to occupation, probably episodic, within Marine Isotope Stage 9 (MIS 9) during a period of fluvial aggradation. The evidence also suggests that the height range of the aggradational sediments, termed here the Stoke Newington Sands, is overlapped by sediments of a later and separate MIS 9 aggradation comprising the Highbury Silts and Sands, and by Late Devensian and Holocene sediments of the Hackney Brook, giving rise to a complex local stratigraphy.