Frederick W . F . Foulds
I specialise in the Palaeolithic of Britiain and Europe, with an emphasis in the analysis of Mode 1 and Mode 2 technologies. My research has examined potential interaction between anatomically modern humans and Neanderthals, the Neanderthal extinction, and the applications of social theory to Lower Palaeolithic material culture. My published work has focused on refitting analysis and the identification of idiosyncratic markers in production technique, 3D scanning of stone tools, and socially derived templates for handaxe manufacture. In addition, I have edited two volumes on experimental archaeology and Palaeolithic/Mesolithic research.
I am currently working as part of the AHRC funded "Digital Technologies, Acheulean Handaxes and the Social Landscapes of the Lower Palaeolithic" project at Durham University. I have conducted fieldwork focusing on a variety of periods in Britain, Spain and Saudi Arabia and have previously been involved in the AHRC funded project "Songs of the Caves: acoustics and prehistoric art in Cantabrian caves", as well as the ERC funded "DISPERSE - Dynamic Landscapes, Coastal Environments and Human Dispersals" project in collaboration with the University of York. I was also the lithics specialist for the Royal Archaeological Institute funded "New Light on Old Sites" project. I have written multiple lithics analysis reports for various commercial units throughout Britain, analysing lithics dating from the Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age.
Outside of academia I am known to be a fan of cups of tea, flint knapping and board games.
Supervisors: Mark White and Peter Rowley-Conwy
Address: Department of Archaeology
Durham University
South Road
Durham
DH1 3LE
I am currently working as part of the AHRC funded "Digital Technologies, Acheulean Handaxes and the Social Landscapes of the Lower Palaeolithic" project at Durham University. I have conducted fieldwork focusing on a variety of periods in Britain, Spain and Saudi Arabia and have previously been involved in the AHRC funded project "Songs of the Caves: acoustics and prehistoric art in Cantabrian caves", as well as the ERC funded "DISPERSE - Dynamic Landscapes, Coastal Environments and Human Dispersals" project in collaboration with the University of York. I was also the lithics specialist for the Royal Archaeological Institute funded "New Light on Old Sites" project. I have written multiple lithics analysis reports for various commercial units throughout Britain, analysing lithics dating from the Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age.
Outside of academia I am known to be a fan of cups of tea, flint knapping and board games.
Supervisors: Mark White and Peter Rowley-Conwy
Address: Department of Archaeology
Durham University
South Road
Durham
DH1 3LE
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Papers by Frederick W . F . Foulds
Books by Frederick W . F . Foulds
This monograph presents the results and discussion of the excavations and analysis of the artefactual, environmental and human remains from across 14 different sites along the A1 scheme. The volume divides the discussion of the burials according to site, including prehistoric burials from across the scheme, the large Roman cemetery at Bainesse, burial within the town of Cataractonium, and those at other sites, such as Scotch Corner and Scurragh House. These sections are accompanied by detailed grave catalogues and plans. A comprehensive synthesis of the pottery, small finds and environmental data is also included, and the volume concludes by providing a synthesis of the evidence in terms of what it can reveal about the identities of the people who were buried in this area over such a long a period of time.
The volume is accompanied by a series of appendices that provided all of the raw data behind the monograph with the aim that this can be queried for future research.
The Where the Wild Things Are conference, which was held at Durham University on 24-25 March 2012, attracted some 128 delegates from some eighteen countries and allowed a wide range of researchers within the fields of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology to present over fifty papers that demonstrated the breadth of new and innovative advances in the analysis and understanding of these periods. The mixture of contributors from a diverse range of backgrounds allowed for a greater degree of interdisciplinary discourse that is not often seen at similar conferences, where the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic are generally split apart.
The papers that have been proposed for this volume bring the ideas and interpretations set forth at the Wild Things conference to the wider archaeological audience. Collecting contributions from archaeologists conducting research within the British Isles, France, Portugal, Denmark, Russia, the Levant and Europe as a whole, this volume aims to present a cross-section of the exciting range of research currently being conducted to improve our understanding of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic. By combining papers that discuss these two periods together, it is hoped that further dialogue between practitioners of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic research can be encouraged. "
Conference Papers by Frederick W . F . Foulds
This paper will discuss issues in producing experimental assemblages that aim to accurately parallel the archaeological record. Employing evidence from the author’s own experiments, it presents data from the analysis of replica Acheulian handaxes that were used in comparison to three British Lower Palaeolithic assemblages while exploring idiosyncratic behaviour in tool manufacture. This will be used as an example to demonstrate how assemblage variability affects experimental results and how factors, such as raw material acquisition and quality, must be given attention when developing experimental assemblages for analysis. It will also show that all is not necessarily lost where inaccuracies are present and that these can still reveal important insights when they are compared to the archaeological record.
This paper presents results from a three-year project that aims to investigate whether the individual is a viable unit of analysis. Using a series of innovative techniques, the possibilities of tracing individual knappers through lithic reduction and final tool form were explored. The results of this study indicate that a suite of factors mask any traits that could be linked to knapping idiosyncrasies. The implications of this brings into question our ability to produce meaningful dialogues regarding the study of individuals and emphasises that theoretical explanations continue to represent ideas and interpretations limited only by our imaginative potential."
This monograph presents the results and discussion of the excavations and analysis of the artefactual, environmental and human remains from across 14 different sites along the A1 scheme. The volume divides the discussion of the burials according to site, including prehistoric burials from across the scheme, the large Roman cemetery at Bainesse, burial within the town of Cataractonium, and those at other sites, such as Scotch Corner and Scurragh House. These sections are accompanied by detailed grave catalogues and plans. A comprehensive synthesis of the pottery, small finds and environmental data is also included, and the volume concludes by providing a synthesis of the evidence in terms of what it can reveal about the identities of the people who were buried in this area over such a long a period of time.
The volume is accompanied by a series of appendices that provided all of the raw data behind the monograph with the aim that this can be queried for future research.
The Where the Wild Things Are conference, which was held at Durham University on 24-25 March 2012, attracted some 128 delegates from some eighteen countries and allowed a wide range of researchers within the fields of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology to present over fifty papers that demonstrated the breadth of new and innovative advances in the analysis and understanding of these periods. The mixture of contributors from a diverse range of backgrounds allowed for a greater degree of interdisciplinary discourse that is not often seen at similar conferences, where the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic are generally split apart.
The papers that have been proposed for this volume bring the ideas and interpretations set forth at the Wild Things conference to the wider archaeological audience. Collecting contributions from archaeologists conducting research within the British Isles, France, Portugal, Denmark, Russia, the Levant and Europe as a whole, this volume aims to present a cross-section of the exciting range of research currently being conducted to improve our understanding of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic. By combining papers that discuss these two periods together, it is hoped that further dialogue between practitioners of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic research can be encouraged. "
This paper will discuss issues in producing experimental assemblages that aim to accurately parallel the archaeological record. Employing evidence from the author’s own experiments, it presents data from the analysis of replica Acheulian handaxes that were used in comparison to three British Lower Palaeolithic assemblages while exploring idiosyncratic behaviour in tool manufacture. This will be used as an example to demonstrate how assemblage variability affects experimental results and how factors, such as raw material acquisition and quality, must be given attention when developing experimental assemblages for analysis. It will also show that all is not necessarily lost where inaccuracies are present and that these can still reveal important insights when they are compared to the archaeological record.
This paper presents results from a three-year project that aims to investigate whether the individual is a viable unit of analysis. Using a series of innovative techniques, the possibilities of tracing individual knappers through lithic reduction and final tool form were explored. The results of this study indicate that a suite of factors mask any traits that could be linked to knapping idiosyncrasies. The implications of this brings into question our ability to produce meaningful dialogues regarding the study of individuals and emphasises that theoretical explanations continue to represent ideas and interpretations limited only by our imaginative potential."
This paper aims to present the results from the formulation of a methodology that seeks to show whether handaxes can be attributed to ‘individual’ hominins. If we are able to traced individuals in the Palaeolithic, this will have a profound effect on the way in which we theorise and interpret society and social networks during this period. However, if individuals are forever beyond our scope, then we may have to admit that our exploration of the individual can only amount to mere theoretical speculation.
This paper seeks to present the initial results from the formulation of a methodology that seeks to show whether handaxes can be attributed to specific individuals. If we are able to traced individuals in the Palaeolithic, the possibilities for extending our studies beyond those that have already taken place will be greatly magnified. However, if individuals are forever beyond our scope, then we may have to admit that our exploration of the individual can only amount to mere “naïve reconstructionism” (Hopkinson and White 2005).
Studies of individual behaviour and agency in the Upper Palaeolithic have taken place, but the application of social theory to Lower and Middle Palaeolithic archaeology has not occurred until recently. However, is this just theory for theory’s sake? While it is agreed that social theory is of benefit to Palaeolithic research, we still lack a methodological framework that allows us to test our theories and fully interpret the social aspect of material culture beyond ‘naïve reconstructionism’ (Hopkinson & White 2005). This paper aims to discuss the application of social theory to the Palaeolithic and ways in which our theoretical ideas can be rigorously tested.
Using a series of innovative experiments, the questions of whether the individual is a viable unit of analysis was tested. The results show that a suite of other factors that also contribute to stone tool manufacture currently masks the actions of individuals. Chief amongst these is the variability in the raw material nodules selected for reduction. However, intra-site variability may indicate differences that are linked to socially mediated knapping strategies, or 'group templates' (c.f. Ashton and McNabb 1994). While this possibility requires further exploration, this thesis suggests that the individual is currently not viable as a primary unit of analysis within Palaeolithic archaeology and stresses that the theories posited from the standpoint of the individual cannot be interpreted as fact. At the same time, it appears that further work needs to be conducted that focuses on the more traditional group as the primary analytical unit and the prospect of teasing apart the interplay between individuals, groups and the effects of raw material variability."
Volume II of this thesis can be accessed via http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5946/
This paper was submitted as part of my MA in 2007. It received a distinction and was entered for the Royal Archaeological Institute's Masters Award in the same year."
Grounded in the recent theoretical approaches to the individual in Palaeolithic archaeology (Gamble 1999, 2007), this poster presents results from an in depth analysis of idiosyncrasies in stone tool manufacture. It asks whether the individual is truly a viable unit of analysis in a quantifiable sense. By studying both experimental and archaeological Lower Palaeolithic refitting sequences and handaxes, it demonstrates the level to which the individual can be viewed within Palaeolithic material culture, what factors prevent such an approach, and outlines avenues for future research. Moreover, it highlights possible evidence for socially mediated knapping templates from Acheulean sites and, hence, provides further contributions to the perennial debate into the sources of variability in the Lower Palaeolithic material record.
Gamble, C., The Palaeolithic Societies of Europe. 1999, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
This poster presents results from a three-year project that aims to investigate whether the individual is a viable unit of analysis. Using a series of innovative techniques, the possibilities of tracing individual knappers through lithic reduction and final tool form were explored. The results of this study indicate that a suite of factors mask any traits that could be linked to knapping idiosyncrasies. The implications of this brings into question our ability to produce meaningful dialogues regarding the study of individuals and emphasises that theoretical explanations continue to represent ideas and interpretations limited only by our imaginative potential.
As a result, this paper examines alternative methods of replicating such battering damage patterns by looking at other percussion-based activities that may have occurred in the Lower Palaeolithic. A series of experimental studies will be discussed in order to highlight the fact that such activities need not necessarily end with carcass butchery and marrow processing, and it is hoped that this will stimulate debate regarding the significance and implications of these experiments for furthering the understanding of both hominin life and the Lower Palaeolithic archaeological record. Needless to say, the experiments conducted do not represent an exhaustive list of possibilities and it is hoped that discussion will produce new avenues of research to be explored."