Norfolk Heritage Explorer

Location

Full description

June 1911. Excavation.
Prehistoric flints were noticed protruding from the section of a pit on Cadder's Hill by H. W. Cockrill during a visit to the area in June 1911. Cockrill recovered further flints during several subsequent visits to the pit and published a short article on his discoveries later the same year (S1).

The flints were found in situ within a sandy layer that lay immediately beneath the topsoil. Much of this layer had already been removed, with the artefacts recovered being excavated from the surviving areas of deposit that were exposed in the sections at the edge of the quarry. The original extent of the flint scatter is therefore unclear, although it was noted that the layer that produced the finds extended for a least 100' (30.5m) along the frontage of the pit.

According to Cockrill the flints were unabraded and unpatinated and were associated with a number of 'pot-boilers' (burnt flints). A note on (S2) indicates that charcoal was also recovered from this site and subsequently identified as oak. It is unclear where this information came from as there is no reference to this in Cockrill's article. The flint assemblage is now recognised as being Mesolithic (a period that was not recognised when Cockrill published his article), being first described as such in (S3) and also mentioned in (S4) and (S5). Cockrill describes the flints as comprising two or three cores and 175 flakes and "…chips made in the manufacture of implements". It is clear from the photograph that accompanies the article that at least a proportion of the flakes would now be classified blades. Cockrill also describes a "…perfect, beautifully-chipped pygmy", which is clearly a non-geometric microlith. At the time this was apparently only the third to have been found in the county.

Cockrill's finds are now held by the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 1920.56). The Mesolithic finds from this site are listed in (S6) as comprising 2 cores, 175 flakes/blades and 1 microlith. This assemblage is also noted in (S7), although no additional information is recorded. A rapid examination of this collection (P. Watkins (HES); September 2014) failed to identify a microlith, suggesting the implement listed in (S6) may be a reference to that described in (S1). The collection also includes at least 3 additional cores, several scrapers (several make on partly cortical flakes), 1 notched flake and 1 coarsely serrated blade-like flake (denticulate). There is also much crude debitage in addition to the blades and blade-like flakes.

A pebble macehead is also listed in (S6) as being in the NCM collection from this site. The museum's records do however make no mention of such an object and it is possible that this is an erroneous reference to a mace that was found at a different site in Lyng (NHER 3039).

Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 27 August 2013.

Monument Types

• FINDSPOT (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)
• LITHIC WORKING SITE (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)

Associated Finds

• CORE (Lower Palaeolithic to Late Iron Age - 500000 BC to 42 AD)
• DEBITAGE (Lower Palaeolithic to Late Iron Age - 500000 BC to 42 AD)
• DENTICULATE (Lower Palaeolithic to Late Iron Age - 500000 BC to 42 AD)
• NOTCHED FLAKE (Lower Palaeolithic to Late Iron Age - 500000 BC to 42 AD)
• BLADE (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC)
• CORE (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

Related records - none

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