Rob Hosfield

Research projects

Rob's latest book (The earliest Europeans: a year in the life: seasonal survival strategies in the Lower Palaeolithic) explores the European Lower Palaeolithic from the perspective of a 'year in the life' and is freely available at: https://books.casematepublishers.com/The_Earliest_Europeans.pdf

Rob is currently working on a Paleolithic fieldwork project in the Mendips( with colleagues from Exeter, Brighton and Royal Holloway) and is a small part of Martin Bell's new National Geographic- funded project: Mesolithic footprints, fishtraps and settlement in lowland Britain.

Rob co-led (with Dr Rob Batchelor, Dr Hannah Fluck and Dr Chris Green; with case studies provided by key British Palaeolithic archaeologists and Quaternary scientists) a Historic England-funded project, Curating the Palaeolithic, the goal of which was to produce clear and accessible new guidance documents that will advise curators, Local Planning Authorities, consultants and contractors in the management of the Palaeolithic resource. All of the project documents are available at: https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/curating-the-palaeolithic/ and the project is summarised in this conference poster from Pal-Meso 2024.

Rob recently completed, with Dr James Cole (Brighton University), an AHRC Network project: Coping with climate: the legacy of H. heidelbergensis. This AHRC-funded research network addressed two fundamental evolutionary questions: firstly, what were the ‘globalising’ adaptations of Homo heidelbergensis and other early European hominin species (Homo antecessor and perhaps also Homo erectus), which existed prior to the Neanderthals and our own species, Homo sapiens? Secondly, how have those ‘globalising’ adaptations contributed to the evolution of later species’ abilities (i.e. Homo sapiens and the Neanderthals) to manage climatic and environmental challenges (both past and present)? The project's workshop has led to a virtual special issue in Quaternary Science Review. The project also produced some Palaeolithic (early prehistory) resources for schools: http://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/copingwithclimate/resources-for-schools/

In recent years Rob has completed new papers on handaxe variability ('Less of a bird's song than a hard rock ensemble') with James Cole and John McNabb, the chronology of the Lower Palaeolithic occupation of Europe, with James Cole ('Early hominins in north-west Europe: a punctuated long chronology?'), and palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental patterns in Europe between 550-350,000 years ago ('Variations by degrees: Western European paleoenvironmental fluctuations across MIS 13–11'). Rob’s other significant recent publications are a paper on the challenges of Palaeolithic survival in mid-latitudes (Hosfield 2016), a site monograph on the British Lower Palaeolithic site of Broom (Hosfield & Green 2013), and an edited volume in honour of Prof. Clive Gamble (Coward et al. 2015).

Rob’s other projects have included:

• The Archaeological Potential of Secondary Contexts Project (funded by English Heritage through the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund),
• The Palaeolithic Rivers of South-West Britain Project also funded by English Heritage through the ALSF.
• The Afon Ystwyth Experimental Archaeology Project's renewed work in 2018 led to a recent paper with my ex-PhD student Dr Wei Chu (Chu & Hosfield 2020)
• Research with Dr Nick Ashton (British Museum) exploring the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic archaeology of the Solent river system.

He has also published papers on the early Middle Pleistocene archaeology of Britain, the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic archaeology of the Solent (with Dr Nick Ashton of the British Museum), British Palaeolithic settlement histories (with Dr Ashton and Dr Simon Lewis, Queen Mary’s, University of London), the handaxe assemblage from the British Lower Palaeolithic site of Broom (with Dr Jenni Chambers), antiquarians and the Palaeolithic record, social learning and craft skills, and the interpretation of Palaeolithic assemblages from fluvial contexts.

Rob was involved with the South West Archaeological Research Framework (SWARF), acting as the period convenor for the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic, and has also contributed to the Solent-Thames Archaeological Research Framework (the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic archaeology of Berkshire; Wenban-Smith et al. 2014) and the Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Terrestrial Minerals Resource Assessment.