Throughout the 40 years since the initiation of the LSS its membership has been diverse, combining academics with commercial and avocational archaeologists with wide-ranging interests in the study of stone tools. Terry Hardaker, a member since the early 1990s, was a keen and active part of this group.

A cartographer by trade and with a life-long interest in geology, Terry’s introduction to archaeology came while climbing Mount Kenya in 1965 where he stumbled across his first artefact (which, of course, was taken to the National Museum in Nairobi!). It wasn’t until several years later, however, sifting for geological finds through the reject heaps of Cassington, a quarry local to Terry’s Oxford home, that a chance meeting with R.J. McRae led to his new found love of archaeology; something that would develop into a huge part of his life.

Those who knew Terry know that energy, enthusiasm and inquisitiveness are qualities he had in abundance, and he poured these into his archaeological work, becoming a regular contributor of publications regarding challenging areas of archaeological research. These include British gravel pits and their flint and non-flint artefacts, surface finds in the UK, and investigating abundant surface material in arid environments, particularly in Namibia and Botswana.

LSS 40th Conference

The second day of this celebration of lithic studies therefore focused on the themes relating to the significant contribution that Terry made to Palaeolithic archaeology over the past three decades.

The morning’s talks reflected his work in the UK, particularly focusing on the archaeology and environments of the Thames and Bytham terraces, with the afternoon moving south to the arid environments of sub-Saharan Africa and Arabia.