See important guidance on the use of this record.

If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

A blue clay layer containing fragments of submerged forest and beneath the clay was a midden containing Mesolithic microliths. Further excavation and survey in 1980 identified the site as one of the earliest Mesolithic middens in Northwest Europe.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses: none recorded

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• SUBMARINE FOREST (Unknown date) + Sci.Date
• FINDSPOT (Mesolithic - 8000 BC to 4001 BC)
• MIDDEN (Mesolithic - 8000 BC to 4001 BC)

Full description

English Heritage, 2013, Intertidal and Coastal Peat Database: Devon, Record ID 170 (Website). SDV350876.

Record ID 170. Blue clay layer containing fragments of submerged forest. Associated artefacts; at the southern end of Westward Ho! beach, underneath the clay was midden containing Mesolithic microliths. 1800s- also found stake lines on the beach, one of which had associated split bones and flints. Surveyed and excavated between 1925-1939. 6,000-6,500 years BP (radiocarbon ages) (midden deposit); 5,700 years BP (overlying plots). Further excavation and survey in 1980 identified the site as one of the earliest Mesolithic middens in Northwest Europe. Record NMR_NATINV-33063 in ADS.

Heathcote, J. + Campbell, G., 2013, NHPP 3A5 Identification of Wetland/Waterlogged Sites. 6240 Exceptional Waterlogged Heritage. Stage 1: Inventory, 25 (Report - non-specific). SDV357296.

No other similar sites in SW and a nationally important site. Mesolithic and later –including footprints. Former wet woodland and fen, now in the intertidal zone, Midden with flint artefacts, animal bone, plant environmental proxies.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.