Record Details
| NHER Number: | 25972 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | Mesolithic occupation site south of Hockham Mere |
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Summary
Fieldwalking recovered a scatter of Mesolithic worked flint tools including microliths, flakes and blades. This site is one of several locations on the margins of what was formerly Hockham Mere to have produced Mesolithic material. These finds, coupled with charcoal evidence recovered from the former lake sediments, strongly suggest this was an area of significant Mesolithic occupation.
Images - none
Location
| Grid Reference: | TL 935 927 |
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| Map Sheet: | TL99SW |
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| Parish: | HOCKHAM, BRECKLAND, NORFOLK |
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Full description
1990. Fieldwalking.
Mesolithic flint scatter:
Twenty nine flakes (four burnt)
Sixteen blades
Three spalls
Two microliths
Five bulbous blade segments (1 burnt)
Three mid blade segments
One distal blade segment
Material from [1]. See plan in file for NHERs 25968-25972.
A. Rogerson (NAU), 19 December 1990
This site is one of several concentrations of Mesolithic flint that have now been identified along the margins of Hockham Mere (which was drained in the late 18th century), suggesting this area saw significant occupation at this time. This assertion is supported by the analysis of microscopic charcoal fragments recovered from the former lake sediments. At Hockham charcoal has been found throughout a series of deposits radiocarbon dated to 7500-3000 BC (S1). Sediments in nearby Quidenham Mere were found to be lacking corresponding concentrations of charcoal (S2), suggesting the fragments at Hockham were from adjacent small fires rather than forest fires (the other potential source of such material and one which would be expected to spread particles over a much greater distance). See also NHERs 8992, 15359 and 50311.
P. Watkins (HES), 18 April 2013.
Monument Types
- FINDSPOT (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)
- OCCUPATION SITE (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)
Associated Finds
- BLADE (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)
- FLAKE (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)
- MICROLITH (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)
Protected Status - none
Sources and further reading
| <S1> | Article in Serial: Wymer, J. J. 1991. Mesolithic Occupation around Hockham Mere. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol XLI Pt II pp 212-213. |
| <S2> | Article in Serial: Bennett, K. D., Simonson, W. D. and Peglar, S. M. 1990. Fire and Man in Post-Glacial Woodlands of Eastern England. Journal of Archaeological Science. Vol 17 pp 635-642. |
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