Results of geological and archaeological observations at Switchback Road Pit, Maidenhead, Berkshire

Gravel extraction at Switchback Road Pit, Maidenhead, which lay between Can noncourt Farm, Furze Platt and Lower Mount Farm, Cookham - two of the most important locations for Palaeolithic handaxes in the middle Thames Valley - was monitored as an archaeological condition of planning consent. Extracti on at Switchback Road has now ceased and the results have identified the pr obable northern extent of the Furze Platt implement scatter and an addition al discrete cluster of Palaeolithic handaxes within an otherwise low densit y distribution of material. Most of these implements are in a slightly roll ed condition, indicating that they have not moved far from their original p oint of deposition. Lithological analyses have confirmed the geological dep osits as part of the Lynch Hill Gravel, which was probably deposited betwee n Oxygen Isotope Stages 10 and 8 (350 000-250 000 BP).