The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca

• 38 • Steven Mithen
locations. These two site types constitute the core of the archaeological record. Both can range
from small deposits, suggesting a brief period of activity, to extensive accumulations reflecting
either repeated use of a place or long-term activity by a large group of people. Caves and
rockshelters were also used.
Stray finds generally indicate little other than that Mesolithic people had been present. In 1931,
a barbed bone point was brought up by a trawler some 40 km off the Norfolk coast from a depth
of almost 40 m. This findspot on the bed of the North Sea illustrates the major environmental
changes that have taken place since the early Postglacial. Trails of Mesolithic footprints found
beneath peat on the inter-tidal foreshore of the Severn are an evocative reminder that the ultimate
subjects of study of the Mesolithic are not stone tools, animal bones or pollen cores, but people.
The artefactual record
Chipped stone artefacts dominated in the artefactual record. Figure 3.4 shows typical artefacts
from an Early and a Later Mesolithic site. The type artefacts for the period are microliths, small
blades, usually of flint, that have been retouched; they occur in a range of shapes and sizes.
Microliths are often found in hundreds, and on some sites in thousands. They were probably
components of a wide range of tools, including hunting equipment.
Collections including relatively large microliths, either shaped like isosceles triangles or described
as ‘obliquely blunted points’, are referred to as ‘broad blade assemblages’. These tend to date to the
period before 8,500 years ago, the Early Mesolithic. Notable sites include Star Carr and Thatcham.
These microliths are very similar to examples found across northern Europe, referred to as the
Maglemosian industry. Mesolithic assemblages later than 8,500 radiocarbon years BP are usually
dominated by much smaller microliths. A wider variety of forms, such as scalene triangles and
needle points, as at Kinloch (Rum), are recognized. Termed ‘narrow blade assemblages’, these reflect
a cultural development without parallel on the Continent. The period between the appearance of
narrow blade assemblages and the Neolithic is referred to as the Late Mesolithic.
This switch in microlith styles remains inadequately explained. It may be the archaeological
manifestation of a sequence of changes: the establishment of dense deciduous woodland led to
alterations in the behaviour and distribution of game, requiring new hunting strategies that in
turn demanded new designs for hunting weapons and consequently new styles of microliths
(Myers 1989). Alternatively, the establishment of new cultural traditions of artefact production,
which had limited functional significance, may be proposed.
There are regional variations in this basic two-stage Mesolithic sequence. In Scotland, for
example, the earliest dated site is attributable to 8,500 radiocarbon years BP. It remains unclear
whether there was Early Mesolithic settlement with a Maglemosian technology here, although
some broad microliths have been found (Woodman 1989). Maglemosian technology is also absent
from Ireland: the Early Irish Mesolithic displays a narrow blade technology. By 7,000 radiocarbon
years BP, this had been transformed into an industry dominated by large blades, in which microliths
are essentially absent. Within England, there are regional and local variations in microlith forms.
For instance, a cluster of Early Mesolithic sites in the Weald produce ‘Horsham points’, pointed
microliths, the base of which have been retouched into a concave form. Elsewhere, certain western
sites, such as Cass Ny Hawin (Isle of Man) and Coulererach (Islay) have tanged microliths (Mithen
et al. in Pollard and Morrison 1996).
While microliths dominate most assemblages, other types of stone tools were important.
These include scrapers, burins and awls, known from hunter-gatherer toolkits throughout early
prehistory. Flint axes, and their resharpening flakes, are also found, and were no doubt used to
acquire wood for bows and huts, and perhaps to make forest clearings. Their absence from
Scottish assemblages is probably a reflection of the smallness of available nodules. From coastal