The Geology of Stoke Newington

The surface geology of Stoke Newington is particularly well exposed and understood because of the discoveries here of Palaeolithic (Lower Stone t Age) implements. These excavations began in the 1860's and will continue as houses in the area are rebuilt, into the next century. In 1981, a site in Northwold Rd was surveyed and the the report should appear in the Middlesex Transactions in 1984. The new archaeological tools of pollen analysis, should reveal much more than t 19th century surveys could discover, so the report will be awaited eagerly.

The relationship between Geology and Archaeology produces exciting it possibilities of teaching pupils how to

use evidence and make deductions and connections.

The Palaeolithic period can provide the starting point for a long process of discovering how the `built environment' reflects and is influenced by its underlying topography; the economic availability of natural materials; and the design problems posed by their use. It also presents the problems of man's effect on his environment; of, for example, his violent reduction of the numbers of animals in the wild which evenually forced him to change from hunter-gathering to farming, and of our own continuing problem of working with or against the natural environment.

All this was written in 1980. For a later datailed description of the the Excavations at Northwold Road and the paper published by The London and Middlesex Archaeological Transactions in 1984

Click on this link, Excavations at Northwold Road