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| THE SHOTTON PROJECT |  |
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External Links IAA Website English Heritage The Lapworth Museum Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund Council for British Archaeology |
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Fredrick William Shotton was a local man, born in Coventry. As a boy, he developed an enthusiasm for natural history, geology, fossils and archaeology, stimulated by his friend and fellow enthusiast Jack Edwards, a boot repairer. A childhood stay in Switzerland inspired a fascination with the Ice Age, which stayed with him throughout his life. At Cambridge he studied Natural Science, Geology, Mineralogy and Chemistry, graduating with First Class Honours. From 1928 to 1940 he taught at the Universities of Birmingham and Cambridge. During the war he served as a military geologist, putting his skills to work in North Africa and the Middle East locating water supplies for the army. He also mapped the geology of the beaches of northern France prior to the D-Day landings in order to assess those areas which might present problems for heavy vehicles. Following the war, Shotton was appointed Professor of Geology at University of Sheffield, and from 1949 until his retirement in 1974 he was Lapworth Professor of Geology at the University of Birmingham. However, his work and association with Birmingham and the region continued up to his death. Professor Shotton’s major contribution was the study and interpretation of the complex Pleistocene sequences of the Midlands. Much of the evidence for this was to be found in commercial sand and gravel pits, and both personally and through a network of contacts - professional and amateur – he was able to maintain a watch on crucial geological exposures in these quarries. He maintained a close relationship with both quarry managers and quarry workmen. Shotton was a pioneer of the multidisciplinary approach to Pleistocene research, combining geology with the study of the remains of mammals, plants, insects, snails and archaeology to create a rounded reconstruction of past environments. Professor Shotton’s career was marked by the holding of many important positions and the receipt of several distinctions. Amongst the positions he held were Pro-Vice Chancellor and Vice Prinicipal of the University of Birmingham and President of the Geological Society of London. For his work in North Africa he was awarded the MBE (mil) and in 1956 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. However, he placed equal importance on his work with local societies in the Midlands. He was instrumental in setting up the West Midland Trust for Nature Conservation and at various times was President of the Coventry Natural History Society, the Birmingham Natural History Society and the Birmingham Archaeological Society. One of his most important discoveries was made towards the end of Shotton’s life at Waverley Wood Farm Pit in Warwickshire. In the late 1980s, during a field trip to this gravel quarry with the Midland group of the Geologists’ Association, he observed fossil exposures which are now recognised as a crucial archaeological site relating to the earliest human colonisation of Britain. This discovery and the subsequent scientific excavation of the site epitomise Professor Shotton’s achievement. First, his lifelong collaboration with, and inspiration of, colleagues both professional and amateur; second, his stress on the need for constant monitoring of quarries for new geological exposures; and third, his multidisciplinary approach to research. The fundamental aim of the Shotton Project is to attempt to revive his pioneering work and recreate a network of enthusiasts – professional and amateur - dedicated to the exploration of the Ice Age world of the Midlands. |
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The project is named after Professor
Fred Shotton (1906-1990), who dedicated much of his long life and varied career
to the study of the Pleistocene (Ice Age) geology, archaeology and environment
of the Midlands.