Monument record 9294/0/1 - Late Mesolithic/early Neolithic flint scatter

A scatter of just over 200 flints in a layer of alluvium just to the east of the River Welland

{1} Two alluvial deposits were identified during the watching brief. Within the upper deposit, which comprised a mid-light yellow grey clay silt, a flint scatter was identified. A series of 43 test pits were excavated across the deposit. Of these 25 contained a total of 206 lithic artefacts. The main focus was an area c10m long within the main strip, although lower concentrations were found along a 90m strip and it is likely that the scatter extended north and south of the narrow strip.

The flint scatter appeared to be in situ. The material from it and the low concentrations would suggest that it was a small scatter, created over a short period of time, or that it is the peripheral edge of a larger scatter or that the scatter had been truncated by ploughing. It may have been located along the side of a back water channel or small river braid, since the western edge of the scatter appeared to be bounded by a palaeochannel.

Core technology revolved around the production of blade cores. A total of four intact cores was recovered from the alluvium. Of these one was a single platform core. The others were opposed platform cores. All of the cores had cortex surviving on the back. The cores were reduced by systematic removal of blades and narrow flakes back into the body of the nodule, suggestive of a late Mesolithic/early Neolithic date.

<1> Haskins, A., 2012, A late Mesolithic/early Neolithic flint scatter on the Collyweston, Northamptonshire to Ketton, Leicestershire Pipeline, 2012 (Report). SNN110424.

<2> Horne B. (Editor), 2013, South Midlands Archaeology (43), p. 45 (Journal). SNN111431.

Record last edited

Jan 26 2021 2:37PM