Keswick lies two miles south of Norwich in Norfolk, on the right-bank of the 15m (50 foot) terrace of the River Yare. Large numbers of palaeoliths were recovered from a gravel pit in operation here between ~1950 and 1970, mostly by a group of local collectors, particularly Mr D.G. Lawrence (Wymer 1985). The site was never formally investigated, and no geological descriptions or sections survive, although Woodward (1881) records a section in an adjacent pit as Chalk overlain by 2.5–3m of variable gravel and sand, and by chalky gravel and rubble.

The artefacts from Keswick are in fresh to slightly rolled condition and bear a striking similarity to those from Whitlingham, which lies on the same terrace ~4 miles to the south-west (Cranshaw 1983). Both are characterised by a generally point-dominated handaxe assemblage with ficrons and cleavers and are assigned to Roe’s Group I. (Roe 1968; Cranshaw 1983). They are unfortunately not currently dated by any independent means, although an MIS 9 age seems probable archaeologically. The database sample consists of all Keswick handaxes in the British Museum. A much larger collection from Keswick is housed in Norwich Castle Museum, along with that from Whitlingham, but were unavailable during the lifetime of the project.

Cranshaw, S. 1983. Handaxes and Cleavers: Selected English Acheulean Industries. BAR British Series 113. Oxford: Archaeopress.

Roe, D.A. 1968. British Lower Palaeolithic handaxe groups. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 34: 1–82.

Woodward, H.B. 1881. The Geology of the Country Around Norwich:(Explanation of Quarter Sheets 66 NE and 66 SE of the One Inch Geological Survey Map of England and Wales). London: H.M. Stationery Office.

Wymer, J.J. 1985. Palaeolithic Sites of East Anglia. Norwich: Geobooks.