Holocene sequences and archaeology from the Crabble Paper Mill site, Dover, UK and their regional significance

Abstract

The results of multidisciplinary investigations of the Quaternary sediments of the Dour valley, extending inland from Dover, Kent, are reported. The oldest sediments are unfossiliferous coarse gravels and silts of probable Late Devensian age. These are overlain by a complex series of peats and tufaceous sediments of early to mid-Holocene age. Pollen, mollusc, ostracod and vertebrate fossils (including the earliest British Holocene record of hazel dormouse) enable detailed reconstructions of the local environments and the vegetational and faunal history. A chronology is provided by a number of radiocarbon dates. The sequence is mantled by colluvial hillwash. The younger sediments have produced evidence for the presence of early humans (marine shells and flint artefacts) during the Bronze Age.