Monument record 5394 - Cot Hill Mesolithic Site

A total 96 pieces of worked flint were recovered by fieldwalking survey. The datable finds were dated to the late Mesolithic period.

{1} 96 pieces of worked flint were recovered by the fieldwalking. In addition there was a largely intact saddle-quern and a quern fragment made from a coarse grained sandstone as well as 25 worked pebbles. (Two sherds of Roman pottery and four sherds of post medieval pottery were also recovered from the southern half of the field.)
The flints included a range of flakes, a core fragment, a multi-platform core, a blade core and a microlith. The datable finds were dated to the late Mesolithic period.
Most of the flint appears to derive from river gravels with the exception of a piece of cherty flint. The two querns are made of a coarse-grained sandstone while the pebble fragments are of a similar stone. Both the pebble hammerstone and the polished pebble are of a fine-grained water-rolled stone.
Although the quantity of worked flints is low, it is densely concentrated at the northernmost edge of the field with 42 pieces recovered from a single 25m square. This includes a range of flakes, a core fragment, a multi-platform core, a blade core and a microlith. The blades and microliths appear to concentrate around the top of the gully at the north-western edge of the field. The only datable lithic artefacts are two microliths and one of the scrapers, all having equivalents from Honey Hill, thus suggesting a later Mesolithic date.
The worked pebble fragments appear to be the same stone as the querns and therefore could be debitage from quern production. They are found throughout the field, but most a concentrated in the southern half. Although the querns are difficult to date their association with Peterborough ware points to the Neolithic. The pebble hammerstone is probably prehistoric but whether it was used during the Mesolithic or later is not known. The polished pebble may be of a similar date, although it could equally well relate to Roman activity evidenced by the small quantity of pottery recovered. (Similar have also been found at Piddington Villa, and are thought to have been used for textile processing.)
It is possible that the site at Cot Hill represents an outlying element of the larger concentration of material at Honey Hill. Its location at the top of a steep valley, overlooking the Birmingham Plateau would certainly be advantageous in the observation and possibly even the directed driving of game.

<1> TINGLE M., 2005, A Mesolithic Site at Cot Hill, Elkington, Northants, p.143-146 (checked) (Note). SNN105775.

Record last edited

Apr 17 2023 11:08AM