NHER 58735 (Find Spot record) - Unprovenanced Mesolithic worked flints, fields south of River Wensum (Lyng, poorly located)

1915. Fieldwalking.
In 1915 an area to the south of the River Wensum was extensively searched by J. E. Sainty and many worked flints recovered. A brief account of this work was published the following year (S1).

Unfortunately the published article does not include include any form of plan and it is therefore impossible to say exactly where these artefacts were found. It is however clear that a large area in the northern part of the parish was examined, with "…flakes and pot-boilers [burnt flints]…found sporadically not only the low-lying land bordering the alluvium, but also on the slopes above and on the level of the plateau itself". It appears that no clear concentrations of material were identified, although an abundance of pot-boilers was apparently noted in one location.

Sainty reported that about 150 worked flints were recovered, of which roughly 50% were patinated. These flints included eleven cores ('cones'), the majority of which (on the basis of their descriptions) are likely to have been single and two-platform blade cores. Other flints found included twenty-five scrapers (including a thumbnail scraper and a side-and-end scraper), two borers and implements described as "…one bec de perroquet ['parrot beak'], 4 well-worked triangular implements [and] one fine prismatic tool…". It was noted that the majority of the flakes were distinctly long and narrow and are presumably what would now be classified as blades. Over 60% showed evidence for secondary working, and a range of retouched pieces are given specific mention in the report.

Sainty noted that his Lyng flints were similar to those that he had recovered from a site in nearby Sparham; an assemblage that it now recognised as Mesolithic (NHER 3018). The high proportion of blades and the presence of neatly worked blade cores would be consistent with a Mesolithic date. It also appears that several of the retouched blades may well be what would now be identified as microliths. Sainty describes a long flake "…diagonally worked at one end…" as being similar to a piece (which is clearly an obliquely-backed microlith) recovered from Two Mile Bottom and illustrated in (S2). A second piece is also described as a possible 'pygmy'.

The present location of Sainty's finds from Lyng is not known, as, unlike his flints from Sparham, it does not appear that they were donated to the Norwich Castle Museum. It is possible that this site was the source of two Mesolithic flints from Lyng that are noted in R. Jacobi's records (S3). These flints (1 awl and 1 blade core) were originally in the possession of J. E. Sainty and were apparently given to the Norwich Castle Museum by Jacobi in 1979 (although they do not appear to be amongst the assessioned finds from Lyng). The were marked "L.E", possibly indicating that they were from Easthaugh, in the north-easternmost part of Lyng parish.

P. Watkins (HES), 28 August 2013.