Lower and Middle Paleolithic archaeological sites in England risk falling through the cracks between different types of heritage conservation, since they lack recognisable structures; these sites have often benefitted from protection under geoconservation, particularly through selection as Geological Conservation Review sites, and subsequent designation as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). The geoconservation of key sites, particularly in the formative years of British geoconservation, has allowed combined geological and archaeological reinvestigation. This is of particular benefit to understanding Lower and Middle Paleolithic artefact assemblages, which were often collected in the later 19th–earlier 20th century and consequently lacked both detailed spatial or stratigraphic provenance and contextual geological information. As such, the ‘fine grained’ data which could be gleaned from such artefact collections was limited. Here we review the benefit of geoconservation in allowing the contextualisation of historical archaeological collections, focussing on six key English sites where geological and archaeological reinvestigation has led to important archaeological findings. In particular, the emerging evidence of chronological patterning in Lower and Middle Paleolithic artefacts makes the preservation of such deposits valuable to Quaternary science in general.

英格兰的旧石器时代中下考古遗址有可能被不同类型的遗产保护之间的裂缝所取代，因为它们缺乏可识别的结构；这些遗址往往受益于地质保护的保护，特别是通过选为地质保护审查遗址以及随后指定为具有特殊科学意义的遗址（SSSI）。关键地点的地质保护，特别是在英国地质保护的形成时期，使得地质和考古重新调查相结合。这对于了解旧石器时代中下时期的文物组合特别有益，这些文物组合通常是在 19 世纪末至 20 世纪初收集的，因此缺乏详细的空间或地层来源以及背景地质信息。像这样，从此类文物收藏中可以收集到的“细粒度”数据是有限的。在这里，我们回顾了地质保护在允许历史考古收藏的背景化方面的好处，重点关注六个关键的英国遗址，在这些遗址上，地质和考古重新调查产生了重要的考古发现。特别是，旧石器时代中下部文物中出现的年代模式证据使得此类沉积物的保存对第四纪科学具有重要价值。重点关注六个重要的英国遗址，地质和考古重新调查在这些遗址中取得了重要的考古发现。特别是，旧石器时代中下部文物中出现的年代模式证据使得此类沉积物的保存对第四纪科学具有重要价值。重点关注六个重要的英国遗址，地质和考古重新调查在这些遗址中取得了重要的考古发现。特别是，旧石器时代中下部文物中出现的年代模式证据使得此类沉积物的保存对第四纪科学具有重要价值。