Mesolithic flints, Coombes Farm (EHER 82365)

Trial trenching in 2008 recovered Mesolithic flints.

August-September 2008. Trial trenching. Two zones of heightened archaeological activity were recorded during the evaluation with concentrations of features in both the north-east (Zone 1) and south-west corners (Zone 2) of the site. Zone 2 was dominated by a concentration of early prehistoric worked flint broadly dating to the Mesolithic period, recovered from the plough and subsoils and the waterborne alluvial deposits which underlay them. A number of flint flakes, tools and cores were present and exhibited varying degrees of abrasion. The finds assemblage across the whole site consists of material from a large range of dates, from Mesolithic flint through to 19th/20th century pottery, showing that the land has been in continued use throughout many periods of history. Much of the material is residual in the plough-soil, as would be expected from an area with prolonged agricultural usage. Most of the rest of the assemblage can also be regarded as residual, although it was recovered from ditches, as there is evidence of prolonged use of drainage ditches across the site throughout its history, and material from various periods will have been incorporated during cutting, recutting and silting up of these features. One notable feature is the lack of material from the Medieval period, and only a single sherd of possible Saxon pottery, suggesting that perhaps the land was being used for different purposes at those times. <1> See also <2>.