NHER 22810 (Monument record) - Flandrian deposits and associated Late Upper Palaeolithic flint industry

In March 1983 a very low spring tide exposed a residual island of peat and clay sediments at this location, beyond the low water mark. The deposits were examined by [1] who recovered a black-patinated flint core on the surface of a clay from which peat had been eroded. This suggested that these deposits were the source of a Late Upper Palaeolithic ‘long blade’ industry that had previously been found washed up on the beach (NHER 15352, NHER 1304 etc.). A grid was established to enable material to be horizontally recorded and a number of additional flints were recovered during subsequent low tides (including a relatively diagnostic trapezoidal backed blade). The flints were in remarkably fresh condition and, like the beach finds, had a distinctive black patina. Bovid teeth were also recovered and discrete areas of charcoal and burnt flint identified.

In May 1986 the site was visited by a number of specialists and samples taken for palynology, radiocarbon dating, charcoals, diatoms and other marine organisms. It was confirmed that the artefacts lay upon a dark grey diamicton on the surface of a glacial till, overlain by a lower freshwater peat. Above this peat is a sequence of intertidal silty clays associated with estuarine and/or brackish conditions. These deposits are in turn sealed by an upper peat that had formed in freshwater marsh and woodland (the "ancient forest" deposits, long known to exist along this part of the Titchwell foreshore). The till cannot have formed after around 16,000 BC. Radiocarbon dating of wood from the base of the lower peat gave a date of around 7000 +/- 120 BC. Thermoluminescence dates were also obtained for three burnt flints found at the base of the lower peat and although these were younger than expected, it was noted that the characteristics of the material were not ideal for yielding precise results. The diatoms and foraminifera present in samples taken from the grey clay between the upper and lower peats were consistent with tidal marshes and a minor marine incursion. The charcoal recovered was identified as hazel and probably post-dated the flint industry.

It appears that at least some of the Mesolithic finds recovered in this area were derived from the intertidal silty clay (see for example the tranchet axehead recovered from clay at Thornham - NHER 1304), while it is likely that that the overlying upper peat is the source of much of the Neolithic material found washed up on the beach.

See (S1) for further details, which also includes a detailed description of the Late Upper Palaeolithic flint industry. These discoveries were first noted in (S2) and the site was also reported in (S3) and (S4) and listed in (S5). The flints themselves are held by the King's Lynn Museum (KILLM : 1992.274). The mapped extent of this record has been corrected to better reflect the recorded distribution of the Late Upper Palaeolithic flints (previously mapped as a point at TF 7556 4537).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 7 November 2014.