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Summary

Widespread deposit of Prehistoric artefacts from Bovey Lane in Beer.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• British Museum Accession Number: 1949 10-2/11 to 10-2/39
• British Museum Accession Number: 1949 10-2/11 to 10-2/39
• Old DCC SMR Ref: SY28NW/7
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SY28NW3

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ARTEFACT SCATTER (Lower Palaeolithic to Late Neolithic - 698000 BC to 2201 BC (Between))

Full description

Keene, B., Arrowheads from Prehistoric Devon, 52 (Un-published). SDV325505.

Macalpine Woods, G. + R., 1933, Excavations in a Dry Valley in Beer, S. E. Devon, 28-39 (Article in Serial). SDV341699.

Deposit excavated in a dry valley in the small chalk area in Bovey Lane, Beer exposed a profusion of flint artefacts. This flint industry of the Palaeolithic period exhibited a specialised 'Clactonian' technique. The tools appeared to belong to the Upper Palaeolithic and were all patinated indicating prolonged exposure on a surface before inclusion in the deposit as it came down the slopes. The assemblage of over 4000 artefacts included flakes, cores, points, scrapers and some leaf-shaped blades. Shells were also recovered from 23 species of land Mollusca. Small sherds of Prehistoric pottery were found which has often been alleged on other Upper Palaeolithic sites. Other details: Figures 1-4.

Macalpine Woods, G. + R., 1937, Further Excavations in the Beer Valleys, E Devon, 44 (Article in Serial). SDV341697.

Rogers, E. H., 1938 - 1942, Some Phases in Devon Prehistory, 171-2 (Article in Serial). SDV135858.

Deposit believed to originate from the plateau above.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1955, SY28NW3 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV341700.

A widespread deposit containing approximately 4000 flints, 300 burnt flints and cooking stones, fragments of primitive pottery, scraps of charcoal, pieces of bone and teeth. Other details: Sketch Map.

Quinnell, H., 1983, Untitled Source (Worksheet). SDV341701.

Material from the Macalpine Woods excavations was re-examined in the British Museum. Some of the 'Palaeolithic' material was reinterpreted as Neolithic, and most of the 'flaking through patina' may be recent spontaneous retouch by movement.

Tingle, M., 1992, Interim Report for the Excavation of a Colluvial Deposit near the Prehistoric Flint Source at Beer Head, Devon (Report - Interim). SDV341703.

Site re-examined in 1991. 3-4 metre thick colluvial deposit sectioned. No visible horizons, but lower levels darker with much charcoal, and plotting of artefact scatter suggests stratification. 4144 pieces of worked flint and chert recovered, including 93 retouched tools, notched flakes, scrapers and retouched flakes. Oblique arrowheads also. Only two chert core fragments and sixteen chert flakes found. 41 Prehistoric potsherds found, and thirty-seven shells of limpets and winkles as well as bone. Soil samples contained carbonised cereal.

Dixon, T. + Turton, S. D., 1995, Archaeological and Historical Appraisal of the Town of Beer, East Devon, 3 (Report - Assessment). SDV341707.

Tingle, M., 1998, Excavations of a Colluvial Deposit and an Artefact Scatter at the Prehistoric Flint Source in Beer (Report - Excavation). SDV341708.

Tingle, M., 1998, Excavations of a colluvial deposit and an artefact scatter at the prehistoric flint source in Beer, Devon, 292-327 (Article in Serial). SDV340395.

In 1931 a trench dug by the local water authority in Bovey Lane uncovered finds of worked flint. The excavations in 1933 and found over 4,000 worked flints, pottery, shells, teeth, bone, charcoal and burnt flint as well as a small sherd of handmade pottery at a depth of 1.7-3.35 metres with a red outer surface and black inner surface. Excavations in 1997 uncovered 275 sherds of pottery, 128 retouched flint tools, 61 fragments of teeth and bone and 37 molluscs. The excavation also uncovered a worked bone button.

Exeter Archaeology, 2003-2004, East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Archaeological Survey, Site No. 2794 (Archive - Survey). SDV351568.

c. 4000 flints; potsherds.
SMR.

Hosfield, R. + Brown, T. + Basell, L. + Hounsell, S. + Young, R., 2006, The Palaeolithic Rivers of South-West Britain: Final Report (Phases I & II), 44 (Report - non-specific). SDV341644.

Thousands of artefacts recovered from the Beer Head Plateau during excavations in the 1920s spanning the period from the Palaeolithic to the Neolithic.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds

• FDV1285 - POT (Middle Palaeolithic to Mesolithic - 99999 BC to 8000 BC)
• FDV1284 - TOOL (Middle Palaeolithic to Mesolithic - 99999 BC to 8000 BC)

Associated Events: none recorded

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