I THESIS FOR THE Ph.D. DEGREE SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF LODON FACULTY OF ARTS BY GEOFFREY JOHN WAINWRIGHT INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY APRIL 1961 THE MESOLITHIC PERIOD IN SOUTH AND WESTERN BRITAIN VOLUME 1 ii ABSTRACT A detailed study has been made of the Mesolithic material in southern and Western Britain and a quantity of new evidence has been recorded from west England and Wales, by means of research in the field and. in museums and private collections. The results of the study may be summarised under headings re- ferring to the four main cultural groups with which it is concerned. TEE MAGLETOSEAN CULTURE New evidence has extended the previously known distributton of the Maglemosean culture into Somerset andCornwall and a concentration of settlement around the Solent has been established. THE HORSHAM CULTURE Previously published evidence has been reorganised. in order to establish the distribution, economy and origins of this culture in the Weald, and new evidence has indicated a slight penetration of this culture into western Britain. THE BRITISH 'SAUVETERRIAN' This culture has been re-examined in the light of new evidence from west England, and. it is suggested that the industrs which ex- hibit the clearest affinities with the continental Sauveterrian occur in west England and Wales, in the areas of Upper Palaeolithic Settle- ment. An indigenous origin for these industries is considered possible and no similar sites have been identified in southern and iii eastern England. SITES WITH COASTAL ECONOMIES A quantity of new evidence has been recorded in west England and. Wales, for the identification of cultural groups which pursued an economy based on the sea shore, wihh a diminished reliance on the hunting of small game. This economy is in direct contrast to that of the Horsham culture of the Weald. and. is reflected in the material equipment. iv CO WI' ENT S Abstract p. ii Contents p . iv Introduction p. Chapter 1 A Review of the Late and. Post-Glacial Cultures in Northern and. Western Europe p. 1 1. The Climatic Background p. 1 A. Introduction p . 1 B. Climtio Chronology p . 2 C. The Absolute Dating of the Vegetational Sequence p.7 D. Shorelines p. 9 E. The Opening of the English Channel p . 10 2. The Late-Glacial Cultures p. 12 3. The Post-Glacial Cultures: Northern Europe p. 19 4. The Post-Glacial Cultures: Western Europe p. 30 Chapter 11 The Typology of the Late-Glacial and. poet-Glacial Cultures in Britain p . 45 1. The Typology of the Late-Glacial Cultures. p. 45 2. The Typology of the British Meso- lithic Cultures p. 62B V A. The Microithic Component B. The Macrolithic Component p. 69 C. The Waste Products p . 72 D. Artifacts of Stone other Flint p . 73 E. The Use of Organic Materials p . 75 Chapter 111 Indigenous Developments from the Upper Palaeolithic Stem p. 76 Chapter lV 1. The Maglemosean Immigrants p . 94 2. The Isle of Wight p . 120 3. Industries of Indeterminate Type p . 138 4. The Maglemosean Settlement of Southern Britain. Summary and Conclusions. p . 142 A. Typology p . 142 B. Distribution p . 144 C. Chronology p . 146 Chapter V The Descendants of the Maglemosean Immi- grants. 1. The Horsham Culture p. 148 A. Industries with Horsham Points and. Axes p. 150 B. Industries with Horsham Points and. no Heavy Equipment p . 188 C. Industries with Axes and Geometric Microliths p . 206 D. Indeterminate Industries with Tranchet Axes p . 212 vi B. Stray Finds of Tranchet Axes p. 213 F. The Horsham Culture - Summary and. Conclusions p. 2].5 Chapter Vi The Descendants of the Maglemosean Immigrants. 2. The Lower Haistow Culture p. 223 Chapter Vii Microlithic Industries of Indeterminate Type in Southern England. p. 226 1. Introduction p. 226 2. Industries of Non—Geometric Type p. 227 3. Industries of Geometric Type p. 227 4. Industries of Indeterminate Type p. 228 5. Conclusion p. 229 Chapter Vii]. The Mesolithic Occupation of the High Grounds in West England. p. 230 1. Introduction p. 230 2. The Cotswold.s p. 231 3. The Mendips p. 235 4. Exinoor and the Quantocks p. 242 5. Dartmoor p. 244 6. Conclusion p. 246 Chapter 1X Sites with Coastal E gonomies in West England. p. 249 1. Introduction 2. Somerset p. 250 vii 3. Devon p. 253 4. Cornwall p . 262 5. Conclusion p. 274 A. Distribution and Economy B. Typology p . 275 C. Origin p . 277 D. Chronology p . 278 Chapter X The Microlithic Industries of Wales p. 279 1. The Physiographical Background p . 279 2. The Mesolithic Occupation of the Cen- tral Highlands. p. 281 3. The Submerged Land. Surfaces p . 282 A. Description and. Significance B. The Mesolithic Industries from the Submerged Land Surface p . 204 4, Industries from the Soil Drifts in South Pembrokeshire. p . 289 A. Description and Significance of the Soil Drifts p . 289 B. The Industries from theSoil Drifts p. 290 5. Mesolithic Industries Associated with Axes p . 293 6. Industries in Wales with 'Sauveterrian' Affinities. p. 298 7. Sites with Coastal Economies p. 302 A. Pembrokeshire p. 302 B. Carmarthenshire p . 309 C. Glamorganshire p. 309 vii 1 D. Card.iganshire p. 311 E. Caernarvonshire p . 313 F. Anglesey p . 314 G. Flintehire p . 316 8. Conclusion p . 317 A. Distribution B. The Contributory Cultures p . 318 C. Chronology p. 320 Chapter Xl The Question of the Sauveterrian Culture in Southern and Weatern Britain p. 321 Chapter Xl]. The Mesolithic Period in South and West Britain p. 328 1. Introduction p . 328 2. Typology p . 328 3. Distribution p . 332 4. Chronology p . 333 Appendices p . 335 Bibliography p. 351 Catalogue of Illustrations P. 393 .1_i WPRODUCTION In 1816, Christian Jiirgensen Thomsen was appointed curator of the National Museum of Denmark at Copenhagen and. was faced with the systematic storage and tisplay of a mass of archaeological material. As a simple basis of classification he chose the raw material from which the artifact had been fashioned. In 1836 Thomsen published, in his preface to a Guide Book, a tripartite division, on the basis of the raw materials, into three ages - the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age (Thomsen, 1836). In its essence this scheme was initially a classificatory system. Its chronological implica- tions were proved by Woorsae, Thomsen's successor, who indicated that in the Danish peat bogs stone artifacts occur in the lowest levels, above them are the bronze implements and then the iron. Since that time, archaeological research has modified and. refined this system but basically it remains the corner-stone of Prehistory (Daniel, 1943). The original Danish Tripartite System envisaged a sharp break between the Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods - the Hiatus. It was thought that the Magdalenian peoples retreated north with the ice-sheets and the Neolithic invaders occupied a completely de-popu- lated. Europe. However, discoveries at various sites in France be- tween 1875 and 1900 produced artifacts that were post-lvagdalenian, yet not typical of the true Neolithic or food producing cultures. The first of these was at Mas d.'Azil (Ariege), which Piette be- gan excavating in 1887 (Cartailhac, 1891; Piette, 1895). Piette excavated two rock shelters and found, above a rich Magdalenian de- posit, two strata containing flat harpoons of antler and pebbles :.. x painted with red ochre, associated with the bones of red dee and. wild, boar. These layers were followed by a Neolithic deposit. The intermediate post-Magdalenian and pre-Neolithic industry was called "Azilian" by Piette. Already in 1879 Edmond Vielle had discovered and begun to ex- cavate a Bite in the park of the Chateau de Fare at Fre-en-Tardenois (Aisne). The industry from this site was characterised. by small geometric flint implements including triangular, trapezoidal and. crescentic forms. The Fre-en-Tardenois Bite was fully described by Vielle in 1890 and in 1896 Gabriel de Mortillet described similar geometric microlithic flints from Europe, Africa and Asia, calling them all part of a "Tardenoisian" period (Vielle, 1890; de Mortillet 1896). In 1889, J. Allen Brown suggested that an intermediate period should be recognised between the Palaeolithic and the Neolithic periods and that it should be called the Mesolithic (Allen Brown, 1889). However, Boyd. Dawkins disapproved of this suggestion and there was no general acceptance of a special period to include the post-Magdalenian and true pre-Neolithio industries. For the next twenty years the recognition of these industries as neither Palaeolithic nor Neolithic but Mesolithic, was confused. by disputes (Daniel, 1950) regarding the hiatus and by suggestions of alternative names such as Miolithic (Menghin, 1931) and the Epi-Palaeolithic of Obermaier (1925). However, the term "Mesolithic" was clearly defined by Macalister in 1921 in his Textbook of European Archaeology as "some convenient single word . to denote the phases of civilisation intervening, in time if not in evolutionary sequence, between the full Magd,alenian and the full Neolithic." In 1928 and 1932 Gustav Schwantes was iden- tifying and. classifying surface flint industries in northern Germany, xi and in 1932 the Mesolithic period was given difinitive treatment for the first time y J.G.D. Clark in "The Mesolithic Age in Britain". In the "Mesolithic Settlement of Northern Europe" (1936), he extended his scope to cover the western end of the North European Plain. It is these two works by Professor Clark which prompted the writer's research into the same period.. A gap of nearly thirty years since the British Study was publihed. suggested that a survey of the British microlithic cultures in the light of recent discoveries might prove to be profitable. The scope of this study is more restricted than was that of Professor Clark in 1932, being confined to southern and western Britain from whence the bulk of the British Mesolithic material has been recovered.