Record Details

NHER Number:22315
Type of record:Monument
Name:Mesolithic worked flints and possible Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age occupation site

Summary

Fieldwalking undertaken as part of the Fenland Project identified a scatter of 'pot boilers' (burnt flints) and a significant concentration of worked flints at this site. The worked flints were predominantly of Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age date, although a small number of pieces were potentially Mesolithic.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TL 6687 8610
Map Sheet:TL68NE
Parish:HOCKWOLD CUM WILTON, WEST NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

6 March/21 April 1986. Fenland Project fieldwalking.
Site HCW 88.
On sandy island adjacent to Little Ouse roddon and bisected by field dyke. A sparse to moderate spread of worked flints and 'pot boilers' with a few fragments of bones. Max dimensions 130m E/W x 25m N/S. The majority of the flint assemblage was of probable Late Neolithic/Early Bronze date (?Beaker), including three scale-flaked knives, a plano-convex knife and a thumbnail scraper. The notable exception was a Mesolithic obliquely blunted point and it was possible that a number of blades were also of a similar date. These potentially early flints were mostly recovered in the western part of the site.
A single sherd of indet. Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age pottery was also found.

For further details see project archive (S1) and final publication (S2). The finds are now held by the Norwich Castle Museum.
R.J. Silvester (NAU) 10 March 1986. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 9 September 2013.

1989 to 1990. Fenland Evaluation Project.
Auger traverse across the site, out towards the fen clay to the south; also excavation of a sondage through the peat to sample the buried soil.
Dossier prepared for HBMC, see copy in file (S3).
M.D. Leah (NAU) August 1990.

Monument Types

  • WATERCOURSE (Unknown date)
  • BURNT MOUND (Prehistoric - 1000000 BC to 42 AD)
  • FINDSPOT (Prehistoric - 1000000 BC to 42 AD)
  • FINDSPOT (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)
  • FINDSPOT (Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 3000 BC to 1501 BC)
  • OCCUPATION SITE (Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 3000 BC to 1501 BC)

Associated Finds

  • ANIMAL REMAINS (Lower Palaeolithic to Late Iron Age - 500000 BC to 42 AD)
  • POT BOILER (Lower Palaeolithic to Late Iron Age - 500000 BC to 42 AD)
  • MICROLITH (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)
  • MICROLITH (Mesolithic - 10000 BC? to 4001 BC?)
  • KNIFE (Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 3000 BC to 1501 BC)
  • LITHIC IMPLEMENT (Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 3000 BC to 1501 BC)
  • PLANO CONVEX KNIFE (Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 3000 BC to 1501 BC)
  • POT (Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 3000 BC to 1501 BC)
  • THUMB NAIL SCRAPER (Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 3000 BC to 1501 BC)

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

---*Fieldwork: Fenland Survey. HCW 88. FENS.
---Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
---Secondary File: Secondary File.
<S1>Unpublished Document: Leah, M. D. (NAU) and Mathews, M. (NAU). 1990. Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission Dossier.
<S2>Archive: Fenland Folders.
<S3>Monograph: Silvester, R. J. 1991. The Fenland Project, Number 4: The Wissey Embayment and the Fen Causeway, Norfolk. East Anglian Archaeology. No 52.

Related records - none

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