Monument record MDO5513 - Mesolithic habitation site, Cranborne

A concentration of Mesolithic and Neolithic flint implements found in 1969. Twenty-five tools found included two flake axes, a leaf-shaped arrowhead, two tranchet picks, and microliths and flakes of Portland and Upper Greensand Chert. These were interpreted as indicating a habitation site. A small excavation by Martin Green in 1977 found 73 implements as well as waste products, almost all Mesolithic. This habitation site is thought to be late Mesolithic.

Mesolithic and Neolithic flint implements, indicating a habitation site, have been found by Martin Green and Barry Lewis in anarea centred at SU 041169. Among the 25 tools found were 2 flake axes,a leaf-shaped arrowhead, 2 tranchet picks, 3 microliths and flakes of Portland and upper Greensand Chert. <1>

At SU 0407 1703, a trench 6m by 4m was opened peripheral to the main flint scatter found in 1969. A total of 73 implements and 897 waste products were recovered, all Mesoloithic, and only 3 post-Mesolithic flints. A late-Mesolithic date is suggested. A post-Mediaeval hut (SU 01 NW 113) was also excavated. <2>

<1> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1972, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1971, 176-182 (Serial). SDO71.

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1983, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1982, 59-65 (Serial). SDO82.

<3> National Record of the Historic Environment, 213621 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

May 30 2022 3:36PM