From River to Handaxe: Lodge Hill and the Palaeolithic Thames Valley

Jun 20, 2025 | Upcoming Events

Speaker: Carl Champness

Thursday 16th October 2025

7.45pm, The Northcourt Centre, Northcourt Road, Abingdon OX14 1NS 

The presentation will discuss the findings of two commercially funded archaeological investigations conducted along the M25 at Belhus Park, Essex, in the Lower Thames, and the A34 Lodge Hill interchange, in North Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in the Upper Thames Valley. These investigations have uncovered evidence of interglacial channel sequences and early hominin activity dating between 800,000 and 300,000 years ago. A sequence of environmental change is revealed through the fossil assemblages, environmental remains, and Palaeolithic tools found at these sites. The presentation also discusses the challenges faced by archaeologists in identifying and investigatingPalaeolithic sites within developer-funded projects, while emphasizing their valuable contributions to Palaeolithic research.

 
Carl Champness is a Commercial Archaeologist and a Senior Project Manager at Oxford Archaeology, where he has dedicated over 20 years. He has successfully led numerous excavations and surveys, offering valuable insights into the region’s human history from the Palaeolithic era and early prehistoric sites through to medieval times.
CARL CHAMPNESS