Excavations at the Lower Palaeolithic site of Whipsnade, Bedfordshire 1992-4

The Lower Palaeolithic site of Whipsnade is located in a disused brick-fiel d immediately south of Blake (previously Bleak) Hall [TL 0335 1763], in the village of Kensworth, Bedfordshire. It is one of about 14 Lower Palaeolith ic sites discovered in the northeast Chilterns by the celebrated local anti quarian Worthington G. Smith, during the period 1886-1917. The site remains relatively unknown, and is by far the least famous of Smith's major resear ch locations, being overshadowed by his flagship sites at Caddington, Gadde sden Row and Round Green. Yet during the period 1913-1915, the Whipsnade si te produced a significant Acheulean assemblage, apparently from several sep arate cultural horizons. The obvious latent potential of the site, combined with its relative anonym ity, encouraged one of the authors (JM) to initiate new excavations during the spring of 1992. These were undertaken with the aims of re-locating Smit h's original site in order to document the geology, collect samples suitabl e for biological and sedimentological analyses and, it was hoped, to identi fy areas with suitable potential for large-scale excavation. This report pr esents the results of three seasons of excavation at the site.