Picken's Hole, Crook Peak, Somerset: A description of the lithic collection and its probable Late Middle Palaeolithic context (UBSS Proceedings v.27(3))

Abstract: The British Late Middle Palaeolithic (LMP) is numerically extremely small compared to the Continental record, and the majority of lithic assemblages suffered extreme collector bias due to early excavations. A few site were dug during the later half of the 20th century, and provide much more reliable assemblages in terms of debitage and concomitant technological analyses. The lithic assemblage from Picken's Hole, Crook Peak (Mendips) was excavated during the 1960s– when techniques were generally improved from 19th and early 20th century work– and is therefore potentially important at a national level, but it has not been published until now. A technological analysis of the lithic material is presented. This finds that much of the material can be placed within a general LMP classification, including centripetal reduction and significant use of the immediately available chert; features that are shared with regional LMP sites like Hyaena Den. On the other hand, other aspects are unusual and may point to mixing through later prehistoric activity (the presence of which is suggested by the Neolithic human teeth). This includes a lack of any bifaces, unequivocal biface production or maintenance waste, or 'classic' Mousterian retouched objects or waste from their retouching. Additionally,a tiny rotated core with multiple platforms appears unusual within the broader British LMP, although a diminutive chert biface is known from Hyaena Den. It is concluded that at least some of the assemblage is likely to be LMP, and therefore this assemblage is an important addition to understanding of later Neanderthal techno-economic strategies within the south-west of Britain.