David Bridgland
Biographic Data
| ID | 389955 |
|---|---|
| NAME | David Bridgland |
| GIVEN NAMES | David |
| FAMILY NAME | Bridgland |
| SIGNATURE | BRIDGLAND D |
| AFFILIATIONS | Durham University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0843-3295 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 34 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 135 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 34 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1996 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
The Occurrence of Non-handaxe Assemblages Early in the Purfleet Interglacial (MIS 9) in Britain
Despite the widespread acceptance of the Clactonian during the earlier part of the Hoxnian interglacial (MIS 11c) in Britain, the subsequent occurrence of a non-handaxe signature early in the following interglacial (MIS 10/9) has received less coverage and remains contentious. Recent work on MIS 9 in Britain has re-evaluated the archaeology of the period. This paper offers a critical assessment of the non-handaxe signature in MIS 9 Britain, inclu…
Making a U-turn on the Purfleet Interchange: Stone Tool Technology in Marine Isotope Stage 9 Britain and the Emergence of the Middle Palaeolithic in Europe
This paper re-examines earlier Palaeolithic core technology from British sites assigned to MIS 11, 9, and 7 using primarily a châine opératoire approach, with the objective of better understanding the earliest occurrence and distribution of Levallois and other prepared-core technologies across the Old World. Contrary to previous interpretations (White and Ashton in Current Anthropology, 44 : 598–609, 2003), we find no evidence for a true Levalloi…
Big enough to matter: On the frequency and chronology of giant handaxes in the British Lower Palaeolithic
Hypertrophic 'giant' handaxes are a rare component of Acheulean assemblages, yet have been central to debates relating to the social, cognitive and cultural 'meaning' of these enigmatic tools. The authors examine giant handaxes from the perspective of the British record and suggest that they are chronologically patterned, with the great majority originating from contexts broadly associated with Marine Isotope Stage 9. Giant handaxes tend to have …
Glacial–interglacial cycles in the south-central and southeastern Pyrenees since ~180 ka (NE Spain–Andorra–S France)
This study uses luminescence and 14 C accelerator mass spectrometry procedures to date relevant glaciofluvial and glacial deposits from the south-central and southeastern Pyrenees (Andorra–France–Spain). We distinguish two types of end-moraine complexes: (1) those in which at least a far-flung moraine exists beyond a frequently nested end-moraine complex (the most common) and (2) those in which a close-nested end moraine encompasses at least two …
Mid-Late Quaternary Fluvial Archives near the Margin of the MIS 12 Glaciation in Southern East Anglia, UK: Amalgamation of Multi-Disciplinary and Citizen-Science Data Sources
This paper presents an updated geological reconstruction of the Quaternary evolution of the River Thames at its downstream extremities, close to the North Sea coast, based on new data from multi-disciplinary and citizen-science sources. In this area, the interaction of the Thames with the MIS 12 (Anglian) glaciation is an important part of the Quaternary archive. The Anglian ice sheet, which reached parts of north and east London, was responsible…
Flake tools in the European Lower Paleolithic: A case study from MIS 9 Britain
A Detailed Record of Deglacial and Early Post-Glacial Fluvial Evolution: The River Ure in North Yorkshire, UK
The lower reaches of the River Ure, on the flanks of the Pennine Hills in northern England, contain sedimentary and erosional landforms that are a record of fluvial activity during deglaciation and valley-glacier retreat at the end of the last (Devensian) glacial period, and in the subsequent post-glacial Holocene. Terraces and channels, most of which are now relict features well above the altitude of the present river, attest to the impacts of m…
A celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the Fluvial Archives Group (FLAG)
The Fluvial Archives Group (FLAG) was founded in 1996 to bring together researchers looking at the development of fluvial systems over multiple timescales and global spatial scales. Fluvial archives of various types are important not just because they provide insights into past landscape dynamics, e.g., driven by climate or crustal processes, but also because they frequently contain fossil or archaeological material for which they provide stratig…
Drainage evolution in the Polish Sudeten Foreland in the context of European fluvial archives
Detailed study of subsurface deposits in the Polish Sudeten Foreland, particularly with reference to provenance data, has revealed that an extensive preglacial drainage system developed there in the Pliocene–Early Pleistocene, with both similarities and differences in comparison with the present-day Odra (Oder) system. This foreland is at the northern edge of an intensely deformed upland, metamorphosed during the Variscan orogeny, with faulted ho…
The Lowermost Tejo River Terrace at Foz do Enxarrique, Portugal: A Palaeoenvironmental Archive from c. 60–35 ka and Its Implications for the Last Neanderthals in Westernmost Iberia
Reconstruction of Pleistocene environments and processes in the sensitive geographical location of westernmost Iberia, facing the North Atlantic Ocean, is crucial for understanding impacts on early human communities. We provide a characterization of the lowest terrace (T6) of the Lower Tejo River, at Vila Velha de Ródão (eastern central Portugal). This terrace comprises a lower gravel bed and an upper division consisting of fine to very fine sand…
Geoarchaeology of the Cobrinhos site (Vila Velha de Ródão, Portugal) - a record of the earliest Mousterian in western Iberia
Twisted Handaxes in Middle Pleistocene Britain and their Implications for Regional-scale Cultural Variation and the Deep History of Acheulean Hominin Groups
A better understood chronological framework for the Middle Pleistocene of Britain has enabled archaeologists to detect a number of temporally-restricted assemblage-types, based not on ‘culture historical’ schemes of typological progression but on independent dating methods and secure stratigraphic frameworks, especially river-terrace sequences. This includes a consistent pattern in the timing of Clactonian and Levalloisian industries, as well as …
Specific Exogenetic (External) and Endogenetic (Internal) Effects on Fluvial System Evolution
A collection of papers appears under the title “Special External Effects on Fluvial System Evolution” in the journal, Quaternary. This is a new Special Issue under the aegis of the Fluvial Archives Group (FLAG), illustrating the recent progress made in paleo-fluvial research. These papers highlight the high complexity of the external forcing of fluvial dynamics, and especially, the combined results of several interfering variables. In addition, i…
The Influence of Crustal Properties on Patterns of Quaternary Fluvial Stratigraphy in Eurasia
Compilation of empirical data on river-terrace sequences from across Eurasia during successive International Geoscience Programme (IGCP) projects revealed marked contrasts between the records from different crustal provinces, notably between the East European Platform (EEP) and the Caledonian/Variscan/Alpine provinces of western/central Europe. Well-developed terrace staircases, often indicative of hundreds of metres of Late Cenozoic uplift/fluvi…
Thresholds in lithic technology and human behaviour during MIS 9 in Britain
This chapter examines the archaeology of Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 9 in Britain, used as shorthand to include all warm and cold substages as well as the warming/cooling transitions from/to MIS 10 and MIS 8. MIS 9 spans the period 328–301ka and consists of three pronounced warm peaks, MIS 9e, MIS 9c and MIS 9a, separated by two cold troughs, MIS 9d and MIS 9b. Current consensus holds that four interglacials are represented in the British p…
Well-dated fluvial sequences as templates for patterns of handaxe distribution: Understanding the record of Acheulean activity in the Thames and its correlatives
John Lubbock's early contribution to the understanding of river terraces and their importance to Geography, Archaeology and Earth Science
In his writings John Lubbock expounded views on the understanding of past climates, prehistoric faunas, early humans, and the evolution of landscape and river systems. His contributions on some of these related topics are scarcely remembered, despite comparison with modern thinking showing them frequently to have been prescient. He visited the Somme valley, observing river terrace gravels and Palaeolithic artefacts in the company of the leading g…
Late Cenozoic Fluvial Archives: Evidence for coupling between climate and landscape evolution
Quaternary landscape and environmental change in the Levant as a context for early human expansion from Africa
Reply to comment by Riccardo Caputo and Marcello Bianca on “Late Cenozoic uplift of southern Italy deduced from fluvial and marine sediments: Coupling between surface processes and lower-crustal flow”…
Late Cenozoic surface uplift revealed by incision by the River Euphrates at Birecik, southeast Turkey
Late Cenozoic uplift of southern Italy deduced from fluvial and marine sediments: Coupling between surface processes and lower-crustal flow
Humans in the Hoxnian: Habitat, context and fire use at Beeches Pit, West Stow, Suffolk, UK
A Lower Palaeolithic industry at Beeches Pit, West Stow, Suffolk, occurs within an interglacial sequence that immediately overlies glacial deposits, referable to the Anglian Lowestoft Formation. There is strong biostratigraphical evidence from both vertebrates and molluscs that the interglacial represented is the Hoxnian (MIS 11). This conclusion is supported by uranium series dates from carbonate nodules (>400 kyr), TL dates from burnt flint (41…
A Levallois Knapping Site at West Thurrock, Lower Thames, UK: Its Quaternary Context, Environment and Age
Levallois knapping debris is present beneath the sides of a disused tramway cutting connected to Lion Pit, West Thurrock, Essex. This occurrence, first recorded during the early 20th century, is in the basal gravel of the Taplow/Mucking Formation, which dates from the end of Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 8. The relatively undisturbed nature of this knapping debris is confirmed by the incidence of refitting material, although finer debitage is…
Settlement and Landscape Development in the Homs Region, Syria. Report on Work Undertaken during 2001–2003
This report presents a summary of the methods and some preliminary results of fieldwork by an interdisciplinary research team studying the landscape history of the upper Orontes Valley near Homs in western Syria. The particular focus of the project is to document long-term interrelationships between settlement and landscape in two adjacent but divergent regions. Geomorphological fieldwork on the Pleistocene and Holocene environments is considered…
Late Quaternary Environmental Change in North-west Europe: Excavations at Holywell Coombe, South-east England
Twisted Handaxes in Middle Pleistocene Britain and their Implications for Regional-scale Cultural Variation and the Deep History of Acheulean Hominin Groups
A better understood chronological framework for the Middle Pleistocene of Britain has enabled archaeologists to detect a number of temporally-restricted assemblage-types, based not on ‘culture historical’ schemes of typological progression but on independent dating methods and secure stratigraphic frameworks, especially river-terrace sequences. This includes a consistent pattern in the timing of Clactonian and Levalloisian industries, as well as …
A Levallois Knapping Site at West Thurrock, Lower Thames, UK: Its Quaternary Context, Environment and Age
Levallois knapping debris is present beneath the sides of a disused tramway cutting connected to Lion Pit, West Thurrock, Essex. This occurrence, first recorded during the early 20th century, is in the basal gravel of the Taplow/Mucking Formation, which dates from the end of Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 8. The relatively undisturbed nature of this knapping debris is confirmed by the incidence of refitting material, although finer debitage is…
Palaeolithic Archaeology at the Swan Valley Community School, Swanscombe, Kent
This paper reports on the recovery of Palaeolithic flint artefacts and faunal remains from fluvial gravels at the base of a sequence of Pleistocene sediments revealed during construction works at two sites to the south of Swanscombe village, Kent. Although outside the mapped extent of the Boyn Hill/Orsett Heath Formation, the newly discovered deposits can be firmly correlated with the Middle Gravels and Upper Loam from the Barnfield Pit sequence …
Well-dated fluvial sequences as templates for patterns of handaxe distribution: Understanding the record of Acheulean activity in the Thames and its correlatives
Flake tools in the European Lower Paleolithic: A case study from MIS 9 Britain
Big enough to matter: On the frequency and chronology of giant handaxes in the British Lower Palaeolithic
Hypertrophic 'giant' handaxes are a rare component of Acheulean assemblages, yet have been central to debates relating to the social, cognitive and cultural 'meaning' of these enigmatic tools. The authors examine giant handaxes from the perspective of the British record and suggest that they are chronologically patterned, with the great majority originating from contexts broadly associated with Marine Isotope Stage 9. Giant handaxes tend to have …
Making a U-turn on the Purfleet Interchange: Stone Tool Technology in Marine Isotope Stage 9 Britain and the Emergence of the Middle Palaeolithic in Europe
This paper re-examines earlier Palaeolithic core technology from British sites assigned to MIS 11, 9, and 7 using primarily a châine opératoire approach, with the objective of better understanding the earliest occurrence and distribution of Levallois and other prepared-core technologies across the Old World. Contrary to previous interpretations (White and Ashton in Current Anthropology, 44 : 598–609, 2003), we find no evidence for a true Levalloi…
Geoarchaeology of the Cobrinhos site (Vila Velha de Ródão, Portugal) - a record of the earliest Mousterian in western Iberia
Rescue Excavations at an Acheulean Site at Southend Road, South Woodford, London Borough of Redbridge, E18 (TQ 407905)
During a watching brief related to the construction of the Mil in April 1975 a handaxe in very fresh condition was discovered lying on Pleistocene terrace gravels of the River Roding at Southend Road, South Woodford. Subsequent excavations by Essex County Council revealed that the handaxe formed part of a low density, probably in situ, scatter of Earlier Palaeolithic artefacts. Although these finds caused much excitement among the Palaeolithic co…
Lecture summaries
Seven lecture summaries:The Cluniac Monastery of Paisley: a preliminary investigationThe Sculptor's Cave, Covesea, Moray: from Bronze Age ossuary to Pictish shrine?Digging for Flint: The Den of Boddam/Buchan Ridge Gravel Project, AberdeenshireThe Discovery Programme: recent developments in Irish archaeological researchScotland in the Little Ice Age: the science and the poetryMap-making in Roman Scotland: from Marinus to the Military SurveyImages …
Stratigraphical investigations
Environmental Background
Rescue Excavations at an Acheulean Site at Southend Road, South Woodford, London Borough of Redbridge, E18 (TQ 407905)
During a watching brief related to the construction of the Mil in April 1975 a handaxe in very fresh condition was discovered lying on Pleistocene terrace gravels of the River Roding at Southend Road, South Woodford. Subsequent excavations by Essex County Council revealed that the handaxe formed part of a low density, probably in situ, scatter of Earlier Palaeolithic artefacts. Although these finds caused much excitement among the Palaeolithic co…
Late Quaternary Environmental Change in North-west Europe: Excavations at Holywell Coombe, South-east England
River terrace systems in north-west Europe: An archive of environmental change, uplift and early human occupation
Uplift-driven valley incision and climate-controlled river terrace development in the Thames Valley, UK
Palaeolithic Archaeology at the Swan Valley Community School, Swanscombe, Kent
This paper reports on the recovery of Palaeolithic flint artefacts and faunal remains from fluvial gravels at the base of a sequence of Pleistocene sediments revealed during construction works at two sites to the south of Swanscombe village, Kent. Although outside the mapped extent of the Boyn Hill/Orsett Heath Formation, the newly discovered deposits can be firmly correlated with the Middle Gravels and Upper Loam from the Barnfield Pit sequence …
Settlement and Landscape Development in the Homs Region, Syria. Report on Work Undertaken during 2001–2003
This report presents a summary of the methods and some preliminary results of fieldwork by an interdisciplinary research team studying the landscape history of the upper Orontes Valley near Homs in western Syria. The particular focus of the project is to document long-term interrelationships between settlement and landscape in two adjacent but divergent regions. Geomorphological fieldwork on the Pleistocene and Holocene environments is considered…
An obliquity-controlled Early Pleistocene river terrace record from Western Turkey?
Investigation of the Pleistocene sequence of the Gediz River, Western Turkey, has revealed a record of Early Pleistocene river terraces. Eleven terraces spanning the interval from 1.67 to 1.245 million years ago (MIS 59–37) are preserved beneath basaltic lava flows. The high number of terraces over this short time period reflects high-frequency sedimentation/incision cycles preserved due to the fortuitous combination of relatively high uplift rat…
Humans in the Hoxnian: Habitat, context and fire use at Beeches Pit, West Stow, Suffolk, UK
A Lower Palaeolithic industry at Beeches Pit, West Stow, Suffolk, occurs within an interglacial sequence that immediately overlies glacial deposits, referable to the Anglian Lowestoft Formation. There is strong biostratigraphical evidence from both vertebrates and molluscs that the interglacial represented is the Hoxnian (MIS 11). This conclusion is supported by uranium series dates from carbonate nodules (>400 kyr), TL dates from burnt flint (41…
A Levallois Knapping Site at West Thurrock, Lower Thames, UK: Its Quaternary Context, Environment and Age
Levallois knapping debris is present beneath the sides of a disused tramway cutting connected to Lion Pit, West Thurrock, Essex. This occurrence, first recorded during the early 20th century, is in the basal gravel of the Taplow/Mucking Formation, which dates from the end of Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 8. The relatively undisturbed nature of this knapping debris is confirmed by the incidence of refitting material, although finer debitage is…
Late Cenozoic uplift of southern Italy deduced from fluvial and marine sediments: Coupling between surface processes and lower-crustal flow
Late Cenozoic surface uplift revealed by incision by the River Euphrates at Birecik, southeast Turkey
Reply to comment by Riccardo Caputo and Marcello Bianca on “Late Cenozoic uplift of southern Italy deduced from fluvial and marine sediments: Coupling between surface processes and lower-crustal flow”…
Late Cenozoic Fluvial Archives: Evidence for coupling between climate and landscape evolution
Quaternary landscape and environmental change in the Levant as a context for early human expansion from Africa
John Lubbock's early contribution to the understanding of river terraces and their importance to Geography, Archaeology and Earth Science
In his writings John Lubbock expounded views on the understanding of past climates, prehistoric faunas, early humans, and the evolution of landscape and river systems. His contributions on some of these related topics are scarcely remembered, despite comparison with modern thinking showing them frequently to have been prescient. He visited the Somme valley, observing river terrace gravels and Palaeolithic artefacts in the company of the leading g…
Thresholds in lithic technology and human behaviour during MIS 9 in Britain
This chapter examines the archaeology of Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 9 in Britain, used as shorthand to include all warm and cold substages as well as the warming/cooling transitions from/to MIS 10 and MIS 8. MIS 9 spans the period 328–301ka and consists of three pronounced warm peaks, MIS 9e, MIS 9c and MIS 9a, separated by two cold troughs, MIS 9d and MIS 9b. Current consensus holds that four interglacials are represented in the British p…
Well-dated fluvial sequences as templates for patterns of handaxe distribution: Understanding the record of Acheulean activity in the Thames and its correlatives
Specific Exogenetic (External) and Endogenetic (Internal) Effects on Fluvial System Evolution
A collection of papers appears under the title “Special External Effects on Fluvial System Evolution” in the journal, Quaternary. This is a new Special Issue under the aegis of the Fluvial Archives Group (FLAG), illustrating the recent progress made in paleo-fluvial research. These papers highlight the high complexity of the external forcing of fluvial dynamics, and especially, the combined results of several interfering variables. In addition, i…
The Influence of Crustal Properties on Patterns of Quaternary Fluvial Stratigraphy in Eurasia
Compilation of empirical data on river-terrace sequences from across Eurasia during successive International Geoscience Programme (IGCP) projects revealed marked contrasts between the records from different crustal provinces, notably between the East European Platform (EEP) and the Caledonian/Variscan/Alpine provinces of western/central Europe. Well-developed terrace staircases, often indicative of hundreds of metres of Late Cenozoic uplift/fluvi…
A celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the Fluvial Archives Group (FLAG)
The Fluvial Archives Group (FLAG) was founded in 1996 to bring together researchers looking at the development of fluvial systems over multiple timescales and global spatial scales. Fluvial archives of various types are important not just because they provide insights into past landscape dynamics, e.g., driven by climate or crustal processes, but also because they frequently contain fossil or archaeological material for which they provide stratig…
Drainage evolution in the Polish Sudeten Foreland in the context of European fluvial archives
Detailed study of subsurface deposits in the Polish Sudeten Foreland, particularly with reference to provenance data, has revealed that an extensive preglacial drainage system developed there in the Pliocene–Early Pleistocene, with both similarities and differences in comparison with the present-day Odra (Oder) system. This foreland is at the northern edge of an intensely deformed upland, metamorphosed during the Variscan orogeny, with faulted ho…
The Lowermost Tejo River Terrace at Foz do Enxarrique, Portugal: A Palaeoenvironmental Archive from c. 60–35 ka and Its Implications for the Last Neanderthals in Westernmost Iberia
Reconstruction of Pleistocene environments and processes in the sensitive geographical location of westernmost Iberia, facing the North Atlantic Ocean, is crucial for understanding impacts on early human communities. We provide a characterization of the lowest terrace (T6) of the Lower Tejo River, at Vila Velha de Ródão (eastern central Portugal). This terrace comprises a lower gravel bed and an upper division consisting of fine to very fine sand…
Geography (26 works) · Archaeology (23 works) · Geology (23 works) · Paleontology (23 works) · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research (22 works) · Pleistocene (20 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (19 works) · Fluvial (17 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (16 works) · Geology (16 works)