The impact of the Roman occupation on the health of the ancient people of England.

The Roman invasion of England in 43 AD led to a profound social and environmental upheaval, which has generally been assumed to have been detrimental to the local population, who faced exposure to novel pathogens and restricted access to resources. Archaeological investigations have suggested that the people of Roman-occupied England were significantly less healthy than those of either the preceding Iron Age of following Early Medieval periods. However, data on Iron Age England is notoriously sparse, with only a few known burial sites, compared to the large number of Romano British cemeteries, potentially creating a biased perception of the health of Iron Age Britons.

The Iron Age itself was a period of profound change, with new methods of land management, social structures, and production technologies were introduced to Britain. However, this was not an even process, with fluctuations in the rate of change across the country. Burials from this period are rare, with most known burials being of individuals, which may not be representative of the population as a whole, and only a small number of burial grounds. 

The rate of change in ancient England accelerated sharply after the Roman occupation, with the introduction of new technologies and ideas from the continent, and a single administration governing the entire population. For the first time a significant difference between the upper and lower social classes appears in the archaeological record. However, research on this period has tended to concentrate on the wealthier Roman or Romanised sections of the community, which may lead to a distorted perception of its society.

The impact of the Roman occupation itself appears to have varied across the country, but the general trend appears to have been to place a strain upon the local population which did not lift until the fifth century. This was driven not just by exposure to new diseases and additional strains upon resources, but also by the imposing of a new system of social division which caused the greatest hardship to marginalised communities. Recent studies have shed light on the rates of infection,metabolic deficiencies, and growth disruption in Roman Britain, but similar studies on the population of Iron Age Britain, which would enable comparison, are missing.

Current models in anthropology and biomedical science suggest that the period between conception and the second birthday is crucial to healthy development, and that the environment of a child during this period can affect not just the health of the individual as an adult, but also that of subsequent generations. Thus, in archaeology, studying the remains of children can significantly increase our understanding of the pressures that a population faced, improving our understanding of the health of the community.

In a paper published in the journal Antiquity on 11 December 2025, Rebecca Pitt of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Reading presents the results of a study in which she compared the skeletons of children and women of maternal age (approximately 18-45) from rural and urban settlements in England from the fourth century BC till the fourth century AD.

Pitt selected 646 skeletons (274 women and 372 children) from 24 Iron Age and Roman sites. These included 116 women and 150 children from Iron Age sites, 63 women and 144 children from rural Roman sites, and 95 women and 78 children from urban Roman sites. 

The Iron Age sites were chosen from across England, to give a full scope of life in this period. However, because the Roman occupation of England is known not to have been similar everywhere, with a heavier military presence in the west and north. To try to ensure similarity of conditions at different Roman sites, Pitt selected remains only from sites in the south and central part of England, including Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Dorset, Northamptonshire, and Peterborough. These remains were additionally from the later part of the Roman occupation, to ensure that any developmental disorders detected were caused by the strain of living under Roman rule, not the initial disruption of the Roman invasion. Skeletons deemed to be from high status graves, as determined by the presence of stone sarcophagi or lavish grave goods, or by their placement in family mausoleums, were excluded.

Locations of sites with human skeletal remains selected for analysis; (left) Iron Age settlements; (right) Roman settlements and their proximity to Roman roads. Pitt (2025).

Each skeleton was analysed to determine its age at death and health status. Adult skeletons were also examined to determine their sex, though this was not done for child skeletons as there are no reliable markers before puberty. Skeletons were only included in the study if the cranial vault, thoracic spine and long bones were preserved. 

For the juvenile skeletons, priority was given to age determination by the formation, development, mineralisation and eruption of each tooth. If this was not possible, long bone diaphyseal lengths were used. Only skeletons deemed to be younger than 3.5-years-old (including foetal remains) were included in the study. 

Child skeletons were assessed for growth disruption, which is indicative of impaired health prompted by environmental stress, by comparing the expected diaphyseal long bone length to the age-at-death as determined by dental development. 

Both adult and child skeletons were analysed for dental and skeletal lesions, their locations, and whether they were healed or active at the time of death. The prevalence of such lesions within each community was determined by comparing the number of skeletons with a lesson on a skeletal element to the number of skeletons within which that element was present, for each population.

Six different types of lesion were included in the study: Dental enamel hypoplasia, defined as linear enamel defects across two or more bilateral teeth, cribra orbitalia, which presents as pores in the roofs of he eye sockets, dental disease such as caries or periodontal disease, bone infection, which manifests as layers of woven or dense lamellar bone, respiratory infections, such as sinusitis, visceral rib lesions, or tuberculosis, and metabolic conditions such as vitamin C deficiency, or vitamin D deficiency, which manifest as diagnostic modifications of the long bones, teeth, and other skeletal elements.

Of the 372 child skeletons included in the study, 146 of them (39.3%) were found to display some form of palaeopathological lesion, with dental enamel hypoplasia and bone infections being the most abundant. The proportion of children showing such symptoms varied from group-to-group, with 26% of Iron Age children (39 of 150 individuals) showing lesions, compared to 41% of rural Roman children (59 of 144 children) and 61.5% of urban Roman children (48 of 78 children). The most common pathologies were bone infections, found in 15.3% of Iron Age children, 21.8% of urban Roman children, and 28.5% of rural Roman children. Urban Roman children also showed high rates of metabolic conditions, which were found in 19.2% of these skeletons, and cribula orbata, found in 19.4% of urban Roman children. Dental enamel hypoplasia was found in 34.5% of urban Roman children, and 18.1% of rural Roman children, but only 4.5% of Iron Age children.

Roman non-adult pathology: (a) flattening of humeral heads, suggestive of vitamin D deficiency; (b) cribra orbitalia; (c) non-specific infection (distal femur); (d) new bone on the greater wings of the sphenoid bone, suggestive of vitamin C deficiency; (e) dental enamel hypoplasia on deciduous incisors, presenting as a grooved depression; (f) lytic foci on the proximal head of a radius, suggestive of tuberculosis. Pitt (2025).

It was possible to calculate whether growth has been disrupted in 142 of the individuals, with only 3.1% of Iron Age children showing such developmental issues, compared to 25.5% of rural Roman children and 51.9% of urban Roman children. This was most common in children over six months old, suggesting that children were protected by 'maternal buffering' before being born and while being breast fed, but began to falter as they were weaned. 

Of the 274 adult women included in the study, 189 (69%) showed symptoms of some form of health issue, with dental pathologies being the most common. Other conditions found included lesions with complex aetiologies, including congenital changes, osteochondroma, button osteomas and hyperostosis frontalis interna.

This was much more common in the urban Roman women (81.1%) than Iron Age women (62.1%) or rural Roman women (63.5%). Although dental pathologies were the most common overall, the prevalence of these did not vary greatly between populations. The majority of the difference between the groups appeared to be driven by metabolic conditions, which were found in 28.8% of urban Roman women, but only 4,3% of rural Roman women and 1.1% of Iron Age women. Respiratory infections were also much more common in urban Roman women, being found in 10.5% of individuals, compared to 0.9% of Iron Age women, and 3.2% of rural Roman women. Dental enamel hypoplasia, considered to be a sympton of stress, was also more common in urban Roman women, affecting 45.0% of individuals, compared to 19.0% of Iron Age women and 23.9% of rural Roman women.

Roman adult female pathology: (a) residual bilateral bowing of femora; (b) ‘chair-shaped’ pulp chamber of a first molar, indicative of vitamin D deficiency; (c) lytic lesions on a rib shaft, suggestive of tuberculosis; (d) non-specific infection (shaft of fibula); (e) cribra orbitalia; (f) dental enamel hypoplasia on permanent incisors. Pitt (2025).

Pitt's study reveals a marked decline in the health of both infants and maternal aged women during the Roman period, something which was particularly marked in urban areas. Previous studies on the health of fourth century urban populations in the UK have produced similar results, suggesting that this was not so much a Roman 'Golden Age' as it has traditionally been seen, but a time of fluctuating populations, with periodic overcrowding and nutritional stress. 

The rise in pathologies in Roman populations, and in particular in urban Roman populations, may have been caused by exposure to lead. Romans made extensive use of lead, using it to make everything from pipes to cooking utensils to toys, as well as using it as an additive in wines and foods. Because it was used in piping, even the poorest sections of urban Roman society are likely to have been ingesting lead, which can disrupt metabolic pathways leading to nutritional deficiencies even in people with good diets. Young children are known to be particularly vulnerable to this form of poisoning.  

Previous studies have suggested similar rates of metabolic problems in rural and urban populations, but Pitt found a significant difference between the two for both adult women and children. Children in rural Roman England appeared to be suffering higher rates of stress related pathologies and infectious diseases than their Iron Age predecessors, but there was little difference between rural Roman and Iron Age women. This may indicate that Roman occupation changed the lives of rural English populations less than is generally assumed, with local customs and ways of life persisting away from urban centres.

Iron Age Britain is often perceived as very regionalised, with communities in different parts of the country living very different lives, while the Romans are seen as having imposed a colonial administration with a centralised bureaucracy which imposed their version of civilisation throughout the land. However, recent studies have suggested that even under Roman occupation, the country remained quite diverse, with the adoption of Roman customs differing from area to area.

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Mountain of dumped waste appears beside the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, England.

A mountain of waste 150 m long and about 6 m deep has appeared in a field near the village of Kidlington in Oxfordshire, England. The waste appears to have been dumped illegally between March and September 2025, despite the site being monitored by the UK's Environment Agency. The agency visited the site in July, following complaints from local residents that several vehicles were visiting the site every day, dumping large volumes of waste, and issued a 'cease and desist' order, and subsequently obtaining a court order banning the dumping of waste at the site. However, no physical barrier to dumping appears to have been put in place, with dumping subsequently continuing till September.

Waste dumped in a field beside the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire. The road to the left is the A34. Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images.

The location where the waste has been dumped is on a floodplain, and the area has been subjected to heavy rainfall during recent storms, causing the river level to rise, with waste visibly being washed into the river on Tuesday 18 November. Despite this, the Environment Agency apparently has no plans to clear the site, instead stating that it is launching a major criminal investigation into the dumping activity, and will ensure those responsible are made to clear the waste.

Much of the waste at the site appears to have come from schools and local authorities in the Southeast of England, which are legally obliged to ensure their waste is disposed of properly by licensed contractors,  leading to speculation that the dumping may be linked to large-scale fraud and corruption within those organisations. Local MP, Calum Miller, has raised questions as to whether the Environment Agency is equipped to deal with events of this nature, where organised criminal gangs are engaged in industrial scale activities. He has further asked for the government to order the clearing of the site.

Legal waste sites in the UK are subject to strict monitoring and environmental regulations, and a landfill tax of £124 per tonne. Criminal organisations which circumvents these regulations and pay no tax can therefore make a lot of money in a short period of time, leading to a rising number of incidents similar to the one in Oxfordshire (although generally smaller). The Environment Agency estimates that there are currently over 100 criminal organisations involved in illegal dumping in the UK, the majority of which will also be involved in other criminal activities.

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Bronze Age well uncovered in Oxfordshire, England.

Archaeologists from Oxford Archaeology carrying out work for Oxfordshire County Council have uncovered a Bronze Age well in the southeast of the county, according to a press release issued on 7 May 2024. The archaeologists were carrying out surveying work ahead of the construction of a new road, north of the village of Benson when the well was discovered.

A Bronze  Age well discovered near the village of Benson in Oxfordshire, England. Oxfordshire County Council.

The well is lined with wooden wattle, and is thought to date from the Late Bronze Age, with a more precise date likely to be obtained through radiocarbon dating. The structure was recorded digitally, before being carefully dismantled and removed for storage by the Oxfordshire Museum Service (left in place it would have been destroyed by the road construction work). It is hoped that testing of the materials will enable archaeologists to determine the type of wood used to construct the well, as well as the tools and techniques used to work the wood. Preserved wooden items of this age are extremely rare, and in this case have probably survived because the environment was waterlogged, and the well was filled in. Traces of Bronze Age activity have previously been found around Benson, and it is hoped that soil samples taken from within the well will provide information about the local environment during the period.

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Understanding the giant handaxes of the British Lower Palaeolithic.

The Lower Palaeolithic is the earliest stage in the archaeological record from which stone tools are known, and while such ancient tools are rare, they are much more common than the remains of the Hominins which produced them, or any other remains of their activity, thus providing a key insight into the activities of our ancient ancestors. The first bifacial handaxes appear in the African archaeological record about 1.76 million years ago, and are considered to be a significant conceptual leap from the Oldowan core-and-flake technology which preceded them, although whether these axes had an entirely novel function or were a new technological approach to tasks which were already undertaken is unclear. One of the notable manifestations of this technology was the manufacture of 'giant' handaxes, notably larger than other examples of these tools, sufficiently large that archaeologists are divided as to whether they had any practical function at all.

It has been suggested that the purpose of these giant axes may have been social rather than practical, with the production of such tools representing a significant time investment, and therefore being an indicator of patience and commitment to a project. Giant, highly symmetrical handaxes from British sites such as Furze Platt and Shrub Hill have been used to support this hypothesis. An alternative suggestion is that the Hominins involved may have found the manufacture of such giant axes an aesthetically pleasing activity in its own righty, an early sign of artistic expression emerging from the purely functional.

In a paper published in the journal Antiquity on 4 March 2024, Luke Dale of the Department of Archaeology at Durham University, Aaron Rawlinson, also of the Department of Archaeology at Durham University, and of the Department of Britain, Europe and Prehistory at the British Museum, Pete Knowles and Frederick Foulds, again of the Department of Archaeology at Durham University, Nick Ashton, also of the Department of Britain, Europe and Prehistory at the British Museum, David Bridgland of the Department of Geography at Durham University, and Mark White, once again of the Department of Archaeology at Durham University, present the results of a study of giant handaxes from across the British Lower Palaeolithic.

Dale et al. note that symmetry is often cited as a key feature of giant handaxes, but that no previous study appears to have actually looked at whether these axes are actually more symmetrical than other axes from the same period, nor whether the style or frequency of these objects varies over time. 

All giant handaxes are associated with the Acheulean technology, which in Britain was present by Marine Isotope Stage 13, about 500 000 years ago, and may have appeared as early as Marine Isotope Stage 15, about 600 000 years ago, if recent dates for the Fordwich and the Bytham River terraces are correct. The global climate underwent a series of oscilations during the Middle Pleistocene (781 000-126 000 years ago), which in Britain manifested as a series of warm interglacials during which Hominins invaded and settled the landscape, interspersed with colder glacial intervals during which they disappeared. This pattern results in a series of distinct cultural intervals within the British Acheulean, providing a potential opportunity to detect discrete phases in the manufacture of giant handaxes in Britain.

Dale et al. obtained data on 4160 handaxes of all sizes, from 47 sited dating to between Marine Isotope Stage 15 and Marine Isotope Stage 9. For convenience, each (odd) Marine Isotope Stages was considered to represent a warm phase, as well as the cool phases bracketing it, thus Marine Isotope Stage 11 in fact refers to the Marine Isotope Stage 10-11-12 cool-warm-cool cycle; each cycle therefore represents about 100 000 years. The warm phases covered by Dale et al.'s study are MIS 15 (approximately 610 000 to 560 000 years ago), MIS 13 (approximately 524 000-474 000 years ago), MIS 11 (approximately 427 000 to 364 000 years ago), MIS 9 (approximately 328 000-301 000 years ago. Many of the sites in the study are well dated, but others represent chronologically mixed assemblages, such as Dunbridge in Hampshire, where the artefacts were recovered from dredged aggregates, have only been tentatively dated, such as Whitlingham in Norfolk, or are known to have been the subject of collecting biases, such as Furze Platt in Berkshire. Dale et al. recognise that these factors will have an impact on the reliability of their study, but reason that the size of their dataset should offset this. They also note that a further two giant handaxes were discovered at Frindsbury in Kent after the initial daft of their study was submitted, and that these are thought to date to MIS 9.

Handaxes were divided into six classes on the basis of their symmetry, with Class 1 representing near perfect symetry, and Class 6 indicating almost no symmetry.

Dale et al. measured the length of all the 4160 handaxes in their study, splitting them into four categories; small (less than 80 mm in length), average (80-150 mm in length), large (150-220 mm in length) and giant (more than 220 mm in length.

Forty two of the handaxes fell into the 'giant' category, of which 33 can be confidently assigned to the MIS 9 cycle, the final stage of the Acheulian in Britain. A single giant axe was dated to MIS 11, and two to MIS 13 - although one of these is- derived from a MIS 6 gravel bed, and is interpreted as having been reworked from a MIS 13 deposit. Since MIS 9 only represents about 1% of the British Pleistocene record, this concentration of giant handaxes in MIS 9 deposits is interpreted as being significant.

In the 1960s archaeologist Derek Roe developed a system of classifying handaxes upon their shape. The majority of giant handaxes in Dale et al.'s study conform to Roe's Group I (pointed, with cleavers) and Group III (plano-convex), both of which are associated with MIS 9. Notably, handaxes in an assemblage from Broom on the Devon/Dorset border, which included several giant handaxes, while still from MIS 9, did not easily fit into Roe's scheme. The stone tools here were made from chert derived from the Upper Greensand, and tended to be ovate or asymmetrical, unlike other MIS 9 assemblages.

Other than the presence of giant handaxes in the MIS 9 material, the size distribution of handaxes between different interglacials varied little, with the average size of the axes varying only by 10-20%, although the MIS 15 handaxes appear on average slightly larger than those from later assemblages, and the MIS 11 assemblage contained a higher proportion of small handaxes than other stages. However, Dale et al. note that their MIS 15 material came from only two sites, Brandon Fields in Suffolk and Fordwich in Kent, with the material used at Fordwich being elongated pipeflint, which lends itself to the making of larger bifaced tools with a minimal amount of effort. Given this, Dale et al. are reluctant to read much into this data without further MIS 15 material becoming available.

Analysis also suggests that axes from MIS 13 and MIS 9 are on average larger than those from MIS 11, and MIS 9 axes are also slightly larger, on average, than those from MIS 13. Dale et al. are uncertain whether this variation relates to cultural differences between the different populations colonising Britain in each interglacial, and make no further assessment of this data at this time.

A comparison of handaxe length between MIS 15, 13, 11 and 9, with handaxes grouped according to length class. MIS 15 displays a greater proportion of handaxes in the large class, while small handaxes are much more limited. MIS 11 displays a greater proportion of small handaxes. Giant handaxes represent a very small percentage of the total assemblage, emphasising their status as extreme outliers beyond the usual variation in handaxe length. Frederick Foulds & Mark White in Dale et al. (2024).

The majority of giant handaxes come from the Thames Valley or its southern tributaries, although examples are also known from Norfolk Yare, the Axe Valley and Solent River deposits. The majority of sites where they are found are close to primary chalk-flint outcrops, where large flint nodules were available. However, some were found in flint-poor areas, such as Wolvercote and Stanton Harcourt in Oxfordshire, whereas older archaeological sites, such as Boxgrove in West Sussex, and Elveden in Suffolk, are located near excellent sources of large flint nodules, but yield no giant handaxes. 

No giant handaxes available from Stoke Newington in London, one of the UK's best MIS 9 sites, although it is known that the site did yield such axes; as the original excavator of the site, Victorian archaeologist Worthington Smith, illustrated several giant handaxes in his book, Man, the primeval savage, but then gave these away to distinguished visitors to the site; these axes are thought to be either in private collections or lost. 

Geological map displaying the locations of sites with giant handaxes in relation to underlying bedrock geology, coloured as per the British Geological Society scheme. Colours for chalk bedrock are highlighted in the legend. Note that large clasts in overlying superficial deposits largely reflect local geology and ‘exotic’ raw materials would generally be smaller in size. Dale et al. (2024).

Of the forty two giant handaxes in the study, thirty five (or 83%) are pointed, typically conforming to the lanceolate (lance-shaped) or ficron (having a pointed planform shape with biconcave edges) type. These shapes are considered to be part of the same typological grouping as chisel-ended cleavers, a grouping which is thought by many archaeologists to be restricted to MIS 9. Although ficrons are associated with giant axes, not all ficron handaxes are giant; known ficrons range in size from 63 mm to 307 mm.

Examples of giant pointed and ficron handaxes: (A) the ‘Beast of Biddenham’ (length 253 mm); (B) a giant ficron from Canterbury West (length 285mm) (photographs courtesy of the British Museum (A) and The Seaside Museum, Herne Bay (B)). Dale et al. (2024).

Since the overwhelming majority of the giant axes date from MIS 9, Dale et al. examined axes from this stage for their symmetry. Handaxes from this interval were found to vary a great deal in their degree of symmetry, although there was a direct corelation between axe length and symetry, with longer axes tending to be more symmetrical than shorter ones. 

Splitting the axes into groups based upon their size emphasised this trend, with axes in larger categories being more symmetrical than those in smaller size categories. Examination of earlier axes suggested that this tendency for larger axes to be more symmetrical was also present in MIS 11, but not MIS 15 or 13, although the number of axes available from the earlier periods makes this result less reliable. 

However, this tendency for larger axes to be more symmetrical in MIS 11 and 9 deposits may be influenced by another trend, which is for axes in general to be much more symmetrical in MIS 13 and 11, compared to other periods, and in particular to MIS 9. Thus, the increased symmetry seen in the large MIS 9 axes is balanced by a decrease in the symmetry seen in smaller axes, with the smallest axes (less thn 100 mm in length) tending to be roughly and quickly made, with very low symmetry. 

Giant handaxes are often cited as a key feature of Hominin cognitive and cultural development. Dale et al.'s study demonstrates that these items became prevalent in Britain during MIS 9, i.e. immediately prior to the Lower-Middle Palaeolithic transition, 300 000 and 250 000 years ago. This interval has already been identified as one of significant technological innovation, beginning with a non-handaxe phase, which was then followed by a period with handaxes, then a final phase in which a hierachical core-working technology, known as the proto-Levallois was introduced. The linking of giant handaxes to this stage adds another element to this increasing cultural complexity.

The presence of giant handaxes is often independent of the availability of suitable manufacturing materials, with giant handaxes known from areas of Oxfordshire where there are no sources of suitable large flints. This implies that either the raw material or the finished axes were transported for at least 25-40 km to the sites where they were found. This phenomenon has also been observed in France, with a giant handaxe found at Caune de l’Arago in Pyrénées-Orientales Department, more than 30 km from any suitable source of material. This transportation of materials is another new innovation from this phase, with most previous Lower Palaeolithic sites using stone sourced less than 5 km from the location where it was discovered. The increased effort being put into moving giant axes to locations away from the materials from which they were made lends further support to the hypothesis that these were valuable items, although another possibility is that these tools had a long working life, and were subject to regular reworking to maintain a sharp edge, which would explain the plano-convex form of many handaxes, including those at Wolvercote in Oxfordshire. Under this hypothesis, many large handaxes would have been discarded prematurely, before being extensively reduced.

Many of the giant handaxes are ficrons, a type of axe otherwise rare in Britain. Large ficrons are particularly striking objects, apparently crafted with care to maintain the length of the axe while reducing the width of the upper and central portions of the axe. This may have been a way to correct for a lack of symmetry in the original platform (the rock from which the ficron was made), or a sign of the tool having an extended lifespan, with regular resharpening. Another hypothesis is that the width reduction may have been a way to reduce the weight of the tool part of a general Acheulian trend for longer tools to be narrower. The alternative is that the ficron-shape was desired from the outset, and that the extra effort put into producing an axe of this shape is an indicator of the significance of the object to the people who made it. Whatever the truth, there does appear to be a link between the high symetry, large size, and unusual shape of these giant ficrons which appears to show a degree of artistry transcending the merely functional.

It has often been speculated that giant handaxes had no practical function, but experimentation has shown that examples far larger than anything found in Britain can be used as tools. Even the largest giant axes can be used two handed, can be used for digging, or can be used as static cutting tools across which materials could be drawn. Despite this possible functionality, all the British giant handaxes are distinctively formed and highly symmetrical, making it hard to believe that aesthetic considerations played no part in their manufacture. 

The oldest known giant axe is 1.6 million years old, and came from the Olduvai FLK West site in Tanzania. This is long before anything else considered to be even possibly an expression of communal artistic standards, and therefore was presumably made by an individual for reasons that were important to them alone. A more communal approach to aesthetics begins to appear about 500 000 years ago, at which point tools also being to appear which have been shaped to make the most of features such as fossils on the rock cortex. Giant handaxes may also represent an aesthetic development, with the size and symmetry of stone tools being increased to create visually pleasing objects. This implies the people who made these tools were capable in taking pleasure in creating such objects, which would imply an increasing level of cognitive and social development.

Giant handaxes may also have had some symbolic purpose. The manufacture and then apparent discarding of objects which take a degree of forward planning and labour investment may have been a way of marking territory, or signposting important locations to other members of the community.

The ability to produce giant handaxes clearly predates MIS 9; they are known from earlier in the Lower Palaeolithic and across the Acheulean world. A 300 mm-long lanceolate giant handaxe from Caune de l’Arago is thought to date from MIS 14, and other examples from across northern France, at sites including St Acheul and Thennes in the Somme Valley, Vaudricourt in Pas-de-Calais, and Montguillain in Oise Department, have variously been dated to MIS 11 and 9, although none of these dates are considered to be particularly secure. Giant handaxes are also known from the Levant and Middle East, though these tend to be less accurately dated. A 220 mm long example from Qesem Cave in Israel is thought to be between 420 000 and 200 000 years old, while a 265 mm-long basalt handaxe was found at Wadi Dabsa in Saudi Arabia. A site at Porto Maior in north-west Spain was occupied for a long interval across MIS 8-7, by a people of apparent African affinities, who regularly produced giant handaxes, picks and cleavers. Giant handaxes have been found at 23 sites across Africa, including Olduvai in Tanzania, where the largest such axe is 330 mm long and 1.4 million years old, Isenya in Kenya, where the largest axe is 253 mm long and 700 000 years old, and Kalambo Falls in Zambia, where the largest axe is 350 mm long and 300 years old. However, the African Acheulian, with which many sites in southern Europe and the Middle East are also associated, has a greater emphasis on large cleavers, picks, and handaxes, together referred to as 'large cutting tools'.

The MIS 9 giant handaxes from Britain appear to show a different phenomenon, a discrete technological interval in which larger, more symmetrical tools suddenly appeared. In France, the MIS 9 sites in the Somme Valley are the closest available to compare, with the Cagny l’Epinette locality producing 33 handaxes, the largest of which is still less than 170 mm in length, while the Revelles site has produced 52 handaxes, none more that 190 mm long. Ferme de l’Epinette, a MIS 10 site in the Somme Valley has produced 31 handaxes, all less than 180 mm long, while the MIS 9 stage of the Soucy complex in the Paris Basin has produced 178 handaxes, the largest of which are 155 mm long, and no handaxe from the entire complex exceeds 180 mm. The Orgnac Cave site in the Ardèche Department has a sequence of archaeological layers running from MIS 10 to MIS 8, but has produced no handaxes more than 200 mm in length. The MIS 9 layers at Menez-Dregan in Brittany have produced 29 handaxes, all less than 160 mm in length, although this may be because the tools are made from sandstone and microgranite beach pebbles which would not lend themselves to making bigger tools. This lack of large rocks for use as a source of tools may also account for the generally small handaxes found at Atapuerca in Spain.

Thus the production of giant handaxes in Britain appears to be a geographically, as well as chronologically, restricted phenomenon. This fits in with a more modern understanding of the Acheulian Culture, which includes many such small-scale variations, rather than being a single long-lived and widespread monoculture, as was once perceived. 

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Eardasaurus powelli: A new Pliosaurid from England's Middle Jurassic Oxford Clay Formation.

The earliest known Pliosaurid Plesiosaurians date from rocks of the Earliest Jurassic. Long-snouted forms showing adaptations to for a specialist piscivoran diet appearing by the end of the Early Jurassic. Classical 'pliosauromorph' forms with large bodies, short necks, and heads which form a high proportion of the total body-length, appearing by the Middle Jurassic, and reaching sizes of 10-12 m by the Late Jurassic. This bodyform then remained essentially unchanged until the group disappeared in the early Late Cretaceous.

One of the most important deposits for the study of this group is the Oxford Clay Formation of England, which has been studied since the nineteenth century, and has produced a large and diverse assemblage of Plesiosaurs, with at least five valid described species: Simolestes vorax, Liopleurodon ferox, Peloneustes philarchus, 'Pliosaurus' andrewsi, and Marmornectes candrewi (a sixth, Pachycostasaurus dawni, is problematic, since it was described from a juvenile specimen that could potentially belong to several of the other species). Many of these are known from multiple specimens, notably Peloneustes philarchus, of which 21 examples have been found.

Many of these specimens, as well as other spectacular fossils from the same formation, were collected from pits which primarily extracted clay for the brick-making industry. The heyday of this industry was in the second half of the nineteenth century, when the brothers Charles and Alfred Leeds collected numerous Plesiosaur (and other) specimens from the clay pits around Peterborough in Cambridgeshire, including the holotypes of Simolestes vorax and 'Pliosaurus' andrewsi. The brick-making industry has declined greatly since this time, with a subsequent decline in the amount of activity at clay pits, and therefore the number of fossils recovered from them, but spectacular new finds are still reported from time to time, with the most recently described Oxford Clay Plisiosaur, Marmornectes candrewi, having been recovered from a clay pit in Bedfordshire in 1998.

In a paper published in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica on 23 May 2022, Hilary Ketchum of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and Roger Benson of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford, describe a new species of Pliosaurid from the Peterborough Member of the Oxford Formation, collected from the former ARC Cassington gravel pit near Yarnton, Oxfordshire.

The new Pliosaur is named Eardasaurus powelli, where 'Eardasaurus' is a combination of the  Old English 'eard', meaning 'native soil or dwelling', from which the village name Yarnton was derived, and '-saurus' the Greek for Lizard, commonly used as a suffix for large Mesozoic Animals, while 'powelli' honours Philip Powell, former Assistant Curator at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, who took part in the excavation of the specimen from which the species is described in 1994, and carried out preparation work on its skull and postcranial skeleton.

The species is described from a single specimen, OUMNH PAL-J.2247, which was discovered during the construction of a deep silt pond. This specimen was partially embedded in six concretions, which enclosed the posterior two-thirds of the cranium, parts of the vertebral series, and the hindlimb.

Holotype of the Pliosaurid Plesiosaur Eardasaurus powelli (OUMNH PAL-J.2247) from the Middle Jurassic of Yarnton, Oxfordshire, UK. Photograph of the specimen on display in Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Skeleton laid out as discovered, with the exception of the left hindlimb (highlighted in black), which was originally disarticulated. An artist’s reconstruction of Eardasaurus powelli  is partially visible in the top right-hand side of the image. Ketchum & Benson (2022).

Specimen OUMNH PAL-J.2247  measures approximately 4.7 m long from the tip of the snout to the end of the (incomplete) tail, as preserved, and includes the cranium, lower jaw, four scleral ossicles, two hyoids, more than 40 teeth and tooth fragments (including both disarticulated and in situ teeth), atlas-axis complex, 57 postaxial vertebrae (comprising 18 cervicals, 3 pectorals, 24 dorsals, 4 sacrals, and 8 caudals, along with disarticulated neural arches, neural spines, ribs, and chevrons), and 11 gastralia. The preserved appendicular skeleton includes the distal end of the right humerus plus a partial left forelimb discovered in articulation, which includes the radius, ulna, proximal and distal carpals, and 17 phalanges. There is a partial left hindlimb compri sing the femur, proximal and distal tarsals. In total 40 complete phalanges, plus six partial phalanges were found disarticulated and cannot confidently be assigned to any particular limb. Of the limb girdles, only the interclavicle and a clavicle are preserved.

Eardasaurus powelli is a Longirostrine Pliosaurid with a high number (35-40) of alveoli on its maxilla, a jugal with fluted ornamentation on its orbital margin, a step-like contact between the jugal and the squamosal, a 'lacrimal' bone formed by the neomorphic ossification in the anteroventral orbit margin (and not homologous to the lacrimal of other Tetrapods) which is dorsoventrally slender with a posterior rod-like projection.

Eardasaurus powelli also has a pattern of enamel ridges on its larger (mesial) teeth, something also seen in Peloneustes philarchus, but absent in other Pliosaurids from the Oxford Clay. It also has five to six premaxillary teeth, a  prominent mediolateral constriction of the rostrum at the premaxilla–maxilla suture, a diastema (gap) between premaxillary and maxillary dentitions, a  maxilla excluded from contact with the medial margin of external naris by an anterior extension of the frontal, a proportionally elongate posterior interpterygoid vacuities compared to other Middle Jurassic Pliosaurids, a mediolaterally expanded mandibular symphysis, nine pairs of dentary teeth adjacent to the mandibular symphysis, a  splenial which encloses the posterior margin of the anterior opening of Meckel’s canal, and a coronoid exposed on the lateral surface of the mandible, a strongly convex medial expansion of the surangular in dorsal view.

Holotype of the Pliosaurid Pleasiosaur Eardasaurus powelli (OUMNH PAL-J.2247) from the Middle Jurassic of Yarnton, Oxfordshire, UK. Cranium in dorsal view. Photograph (A₁), interpretive drawing (A₂), light grey, broken bone; mid grey filler; dark grey, matrix. Ketchum & Benson (2022).

A phylogenetic analysis carried out by Ketchum and Benson recovered Eardasaurus powelli as an early-diverging Thalassophonean Pliosaurid, forming the sister taxon to the derived group comprising 'Pliosaurus' andrewsi, Simolestes vorax, Liopleurodon ferox, Pliosaurus spp., and Brachaucheninae.

Phylogenetic topology for Pliosauridae, focussing on Early–Middle Jurassic representatives, based on Bayesian Mkv analysis. Numbers indicate posterior support for nodes demonstrating strong support for many aspects, but weaker support for relationships among Peloneustes philarchus, Anguanax zignoi, and Eardasaurus powelli, which are tentatively recovered as grade leading to more derived Pliosaurids. Ketchum & Benson (2022).

Eardasaurus powelli has a pattern of deep ridges on its teeth which would have formed additional deep cutting surfaces in life. Such ridges are ecologically significant, as they are typically associated with macropradatory behaviour (i.e. attacking large prey). Such ridges are found in a range of taxa, although they are rare (but not unknown) in Pliosaurids, although Ketchum & Benson suggest that this may be due to under-reporting rather than a true absence.

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