The Mesolithic period c. 9300 - 4300 BC
The vast period of the ‘Stone Age’ is often broadly generalised in terms of the key developments which took place, though many concepts have since evolved over the years. The Meso- (‘Middle’) era is one which is most commonly characterised as the period of nomadic groups living off of what they could hunt or gather seasonally, during a period which shifted to covered woodland as a result of rising sea levels and climatic warming.
Evaluation by W Boismier and I Meadows of Andrew Josephs Associates across an area of possible flint scatters recorded during previous fieldwalking (SyAC 97, 208) and located on the terrace edge of a small stream valley. The stratigraphy recorded in all trenches comprised a plough-soil above post-glacial alluvial clay and Cretaceous Gault Formation clay and pebbly sand deposits. Worked flint artefacts were only recovered from the plough-soil with no artefacts, features or deposits found cut into or within the alluvial sediments underlying it.
Strip, map and record excavation and watching brief by S Westall of AOC revealed a layer of loose, light brown sand, 0.13–0.24m thick, containing a large quantity of worked Mesolithic flints; none were in situ, having been deposited through colluvial or fluvial activity. Two ditches of Roman or possibly medieval date and a Saxon pit were also recorded.
