Erosion of in situ Mesolithic remains at Low Hauxley, Northumberland#
Clive Waddington, Archaeological Research Services Ltd#
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At the north end of Druridge Bay, near Low Hauxley, a Mesolithic site comprising an extensive flint scatter, small scoops and pits, occupation areas and pockets of shellfish remains in a Late Mesolithic soil is eroding from the cliff face due to direct wave action. The site is located on what was originally a slight knoll standing at a higher elevation than the surrounding ground. This intact Later Mesolithic land surface has developed on a thick storm surge deposit thought to have been deposited as part of the Storegga Slide event. At the end of the 3rd millennium cal BC a Beaker period cist cemetery, covered by a large stone cairn, was constructed over the Mesolithic site, sealing the underlying Mesolithic soil horizons and protecting them from erosion. Since the Late Bronze Age, additional protection was afforded when calcareous dune sand accumulated over the site and a further palaeosol developed in the Iron Age before being covered over by ongoing dune sand accumulation since Roman times to a depth varying between 2.5m and 5m. The non-acidic conditions mean that bone and marine shell have been preserved.
Around 100m south of the cliff-face site, an eroding inter-tidal peat has recently been discovered with human and animal footprints, including those of adults and children and the tracks of red deer, wild pig and wild cattle imprinted on the surface. The base of the peat has been radiocarbon dated to the later 6th millennium cal BC when woodland including alder, hazel and oak grew on this land surface. The cliff-face site is also thought to be Late Mesolithic in date, although there could be earlier phases of Mesolithic occupation present. A community-based research project, ‘Rescued from the Sea’, has been established by Archaeological Research Services Ltd and the Northumberland Wildlife Trust to investigate the site and record the remains before coastal erosion removes the site for good.