Whitburn, Potter's Hole, Mesolithic or Neolithic site
Whitburn, Potter's Hole, Mesolithic or Neolithic site
HER Number
1998
District
S Tyneside
Site Name
Whitburn, Potter's Hole, Mesolithic or Neolithic site
Place
Whitburn
Map Sheet
NZ46SW
Class
Monument <By Form>
Site Type: Broad
Artefact Scatter
Site Type: Specific
Flint Scatter
General Period
PREHISTORIC
Specific Period
Mesolithic -10,000 to -4,000
Form of Evidence
Find
Description
"In March 1989 a small number of flints (five "bashed" lumps, a broken core of white patinated flint and a brown trimming flake) were recovered from the cliff face at Potter's Hole. All are the waste products of flint knapping and the creation of tools. The flint is all local. Found with lumps of burnt daub from a timber structure. On examination, the site appears as a band of peaty material c1 metres below current ground level and is associated with structural features including a spread of burnt daub and a pit cut into the limestone bedrock. A series of visits to monitor the cliff face has recovered several more flint artefacts and extended the lateral spread of the site to 20th centurym. It has also been noted that active erosion over the site has lost at least 1 metres to the sea within the last 2 years. The Potter's Hole site is one of considerable archaeological importance and requires further examination. Mesolithic sites with associated structures are exceptionally rare (ref. Howick, Northumberland, where a mesolithic house and flints were found). The peat deposit from which the artefacts were recovered was the original ground surface and could yeild preserved pollen and other organic remains"
Easting
441200
Northing
563700
Grid Reference
NZ441200563700
Sources
<< HER 1998 >> Pers comm. S. Speak, 1991, Tyne and Wear Museums, Archaeological Potential of the Area around Potter's Hole, Tyne and Wear; The Arbeia Society, 2004, The Coast from South Shields to Whitburn - Archaeology and History (Local Heritage Initiative Survey)