Francis Wenban-Smith

I am Principal Research Fellow in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Southampton. My main interests are early prehistory of Britain and Europe, in particular the history of settlement and cultural change in relation to changing climate and environment, and social/cognitive approaches to the interpretation of lithic technology My position combines commercial archaeological work with developing and leading funded research projects. My first archaeological work was in a peat bog in Yorkshire in 1981 (the Mesolithic site of Seamer Carr, where an interest in flints was born); since then I've carried out work at mostly Palaeolithic sites, including Swanscombe and Boxgrove. I was deeply involved with Palaeolithic investigations in advance of HS1, leading to discovery and publication of The Ebbsfleet Elephant site. And I am still involved in pre-development investigations in the Ebbsfleet area - where I believe there are still many more Palaeolithic treasures to be found..

I'm happy to report an award of a grant from English Heritage to conduct a field survey of this important Palaeolithic site. I will be leading the project, which follows from a preliminary survey supported by Natural England which established that the site was currently in poor condition, leading to it being placed on the national register of Monuments at Risk. The site is unusual in being statutorily protected both as a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Continue reading →