The Palaeolithic in Hackney (900000BC - 10000BC)
Note
Hackney, particularly the north of the borough, is one of the most important archaeological sites from the Old Stone Age (Palaeolithic) in Britain.
Over 3,000 ancient objects have been discovered in the borough, making it one of the richest find sites for this time period. Most evidence of life from this time has been moved or destroyed by the huge glaciers of the following ‘Ice Ages’, but many artefacts in Hackney were found undisturbed, left in the same locations they were used in hundreds of thousands of years ago.
Over time the earth’s climate has changed between warmer and colder temperatures. The Old Stone Age artefacts discovered within Hackney were made and used during one of these warmer periods, dating to 301,000 - 328,000 years ago. This makes these flint tools predate the existence of modern humans (Homo sapiens) by a hundred thousand years.
The stone tools in Hackney were made by members of a different species – the Neanderthals. Handaxes, shaped out of a larger piece of stone, are the most frequently found item from the Old Stone Age. Rather than be attached to a handle they would have been held in the hand and used for butchering and skinning animals, cutting wood and even digging. To create these elegant, symmetrical shapes would require forward planning and great technical skill.
Animal, plant and insect remains help archaeologists reconstruct past environments and climates, giving us a glimpse of a Hackney very different from today. Discoveries of parts of animals like straight-tusked elephants, hippos and rhinos suggest that Hackney was once warmer, with open grasslands. The presence of large predators would also have made life dangerous for early humans.
A recent archaeological investigation at the Nightingale Estate, Lower Clapton, discovered plants, insects and animal remains pointing to an average summer temperature 3 ̊ C higher than today, and colder winters. The landscape was open grasslands with wet marshland and patches of woodland.
Hackney’s Old Stone Age was discovered and preserved due to the rapid urban development of the late 1800s and the dedicated work of a handful of collectors. The borough witnessed rapid population increase in the 19th century, rising from just under 15,000 people in 1801 to nearly 375,000 in 1901. Former fields, grand estates, gardens and brick-pits in Clapton and Stoke Newington were transformed into suburban homes for an aspiring middle-class looking for easy access to the City of London.
In building the new homes locally, workmen excavated deep into the earth for foundations, basements and drains, providing a unique opportunity for interested collectors to view ancient deposits and retrieve the fossils and tools within.
In the 1870s, some of the very first stone tools from the Old Stone Age to be found undisturbed were discovered in Hackney. These had remained exactly how they were left by the people that lived there hundreds of thousands of years before and as sharp as on the day they were made. Within 10 years of the news of the discovery, nearly a thousand artefacts had been found in the area.
Over 3,000 ancient objects have been discovered in the borough, making it one of the richest find sites for this time period. Most evidence of life from this time has been moved or destroyed by the huge glaciers of the following ‘Ice Ages’, but many artefacts in Hackney were found undisturbed, left in the same locations they were used in hundreds of thousands of years ago.
Over time the earth’s climate has changed between warmer and colder temperatures. The Old Stone Age artefacts discovered within Hackney were made and used during one of these warmer periods, dating to 301,000 - 328,000 years ago. This makes these flint tools predate the existence of modern humans (Homo sapiens) by a hundred thousand years.
The stone tools in Hackney were made by members of a different species – the Neanderthals. Handaxes, shaped out of a larger piece of stone, are the most frequently found item from the Old Stone Age. Rather than be attached to a handle they would have been held in the hand and used for butchering and skinning animals, cutting wood and even digging. To create these elegant, symmetrical shapes would require forward planning and great technical skill.
Animal, plant and insect remains help archaeologists reconstruct past environments and climates, giving us a glimpse of a Hackney very different from today. Discoveries of parts of animals like straight-tusked elephants, hippos and rhinos suggest that Hackney was once warmer, with open grasslands. The presence of large predators would also have made life dangerous for early humans.
A recent archaeological investigation at the Nightingale Estate, Lower Clapton, discovered plants, insects and animal remains pointing to an average summer temperature 3 ̊ C higher than today, and colder winters. The landscape was open grasslands with wet marshland and patches of woodland.
Hackney’s Old Stone Age was discovered and preserved due to the rapid urban development of the late 1800s and the dedicated work of a handful of collectors. The borough witnessed rapid population increase in the 19th century, rising from just under 15,000 people in 1801 to nearly 375,000 in 1901. Former fields, grand estates, gardens and brick-pits in Clapton and Stoke Newington were transformed into suburban homes for an aspiring middle-class looking for easy access to the City of London.
In building the new homes locally, workmen excavated deep into the earth for foundations, basements and drains, providing a unique opportunity for interested collectors to view ancient deposits and retrieve the fossils and tools within.
In the 1870s, some of the very first stone tools from the Old Stone Age to be found undisturbed were discovered in Hackney. These had remained exactly how they were left by the people that lived there hundreds of thousands of years before and as sharp as on the day they were made. Within 10 years of the news of the discovery, nearly a thousand artefacts had been found in the area.
Image - reconstruction of a hunter's campfire by the Museum of London based on archaeological finds made in Stoke Newington dating from the Old Stone Age. Hackney Archives P14849. Copyright Pete Thompson.