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Mesolithic flint working at Morte Point - David and Judy Parker (Newsletter No 11 2006)
Baggy Point, forming the northern arm of Croyde Bay, is well known for its flint scatters. Morte Point at the north end of Woolacombe Bay however, is less well known. NDAS members David and Judy Parker have recently made some significant finds Sometime around 10,000 to 5,400 years ago Mesolithic people were knapping flints for tools and implements at Morte Point. These people led a life of hunting and gathering in a period of woodland expansion following the last glaciation.
Sea levels were lower than at present and what are now coastal headlands would then have been hills overlooking a coastal plain. Animals hunted would probably include elk, roe deer, pig and beaver, and possibly the people would travel to the coast to find shellfish and crustaceans to supplement their diet.
We have recently picked up a range of worked flints emerging from eroding head deposits at Morte Point. At present they amount to well over 100 pieces, some 60 of which have been examined and identified with perhaps the same again awaiting examination. All the flints with remaining cortex have originated from sea-worn pebbles and could have been gathered from beaches or possibly from raised beach deposits formed at times of higher sea levels.We have not found any evidence of nodular flint being utilised at Morte Point so far. The nearest known surface deposit of nodular flint is located at Orleigh Court, some 15 miles to the south. Perhaps this deposit was unknown to the Mesolithic people or perhaps pebbles from a closer source were sufficient for their needs.
Two flints classed as microdenticulates are attributed to the early Mesolithic period 10,000 – 8,500 BP. As the name suggests, they have very fine denticulations (notches) on one edge, like a tiny saw. (Gordon Fisher of ACE suggests, having tried it, that they were used for skinning Ed.) Interestingly one is notched on what is described as the left hand edge, the other being notched on the right hand edge.Were they used for different purposes or was there a left handed and right handed person at Morte Point?
Amongst the other finds were a side scraper, a number of blades and three cores, these being the material from which the tools were struck. The largest number of flints found were just tiny flakes and fragments which at first sight appear unimportant, but this material, known as debitage, is the waste product from flint knapping, and shows that the Mesolithic people actually worked flint at Morte Point.
Anyone interested is urged to keep a watchful eye open if they visit Morte Point, but to remember that digging is prohibited on National Trust land. Any surface finds should be handed in to Barnstaple Museum for identification. This is far better than taking them home to be eventually forgotten and lost, resulting in lost knowledge and interest for future generations.
We are indebted to Ann and Martin Plummer and Rosemary Stewart for the identification and classification of the flints which are now in the charge of the National Trust.