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Lithic material was been recovered from five interventions at Nosterfield between 1999 & 2003. A summary of the material is presented in Table 1.1 below:
| Intervention No. | Notes | Quantity |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mainly from excavated contexts | 77 |
| 2 | Surface finds from field of Intervention 1 | 53 |
| 4 | A single natural pebble of black chert | 1 |
| 5 | Mainly from excavated contexts | 299 |
| 6 | Surface finds from fieldwalking from field of Intervention 5 | 18 |
| 8 | Topsoil finds from evaluation trenching | 6 |
| Total | 454 |
This report considers lithics from Interventions 1 and 2 together as they are a fieldwalked and excavated assemblage from the same field. A similar approach has been taken with Interventions 5 and 6 for the same reason. The lithic item from Intervention 4 requires no further comment and the material from Intervention 8 is considered separately.
The entire assemblage has been catalogued using Microsoft Excel. The full flint catalogue is available with the site archive.
With the exception of 6 pieces of black chert and 4 flakes of volcanic tuff all of the items are flint. The flint is very homogenous in character and other than two red pieces consists of grey or light brown items often with a range of different shades within one piece. The flint becomes opaque on finer flakes and is of a good quality with few flaws or fossils. Very few items have any cortex. When this is present it is worn from glacial or wave action and extremely thin in section.
The material from Intervention 1 is extremely well preserved with little post depositional damage such as edge chipping, snapping or abrasion. Although the material from Intervention 2 shows few obvious signs of damage it is possible that the topsoiling of the site has caused some damage.
Very few pieces amongst the collection have any patina development. Only 9 items, excluding burnt pieces, have any patina development. One piece (Int. 2, S.F. 12) has become patinated in antiquity and the patina subsequently broken by further knapping.
Eighteen pieces from the collection show various degrees of thermal damage by burning. There is no correlation between burnt pieces and context i.e. there are no discrete areas that contain a preponderance of burnt items. Other than one example of a heavily burnt thumbnail scraper (Int. 2, S.F. 19) the burnt examples are all waste flakes and debitage.
The flint has been classified into its basic natural or knapped form irrespective of further working, i.e. scrapers based on flake blanks are included in the statistics for flakes. Table 2.1 sets out the incidence of the varying forms from Interventions 1 and 2:
| Type | Quantity by Intervention | Percentage by Intervention | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Total | 1 | 2 | Total |
|
| Blades (inc. pieces of) | 9 | 9 | 18 | 12 | 17 | 14 |
| Cores (inc. pieces of) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Debitage (irregular shattered pieces & burnt waste) | 25 | 9 | 34 | 32.5 | 17 | 26 |
| Flakes (inc. pieces of) | 43 | 34 | 77 | 55.5 | 64.3 | 59.3 |
| Natural pieces (inc. pot lids) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 77 | 53 | 130 | 59 | 41 | 100 |
Non-burnt debitage accounts for just over a quarter of the lithics from Interventions 1 & 2. Debitage is defined here as angular chunks which are the product of knapping but served no purpose as artefacts in themselves. The debitage was graded in size by taking its maximum dimension on a grid incremented in 5mm steps. The results of the grading are shown in Table 2.2 below:
| Debitage size | Quantity | Percentage (%) |
|---|---|---|
| >10mm<15mm | 4 | 16.6 |
| >15mm<20mm | 3 | 12.6 |
| >20mm<25mm | 10 | 41.6 |
| >25mm<30mm | 2 | 8.3 |
| >30mm<35mm | 1 | 4.2 |
| >35mm<40mm | 2 | 8.3 |
| >40mm<45mm | 1 | 4.2 |
| >45mm<50mm | 0 | 0 |
| >50mm<55mm | 1 | 4.2 |
| Total | 24 | 100 |
A single core of grey/brown flint (Int. 2, S.F. 22) was recovered during the fieldwalking exercise. This is a fragment struck from a larger piece perhaps as a rejuvenation flake. A core platform renewal flake is also present amongst the field walked assemblage (Int. 2, S.F. 32). A burnt fragment from context 1166 (S.F. 22) may be a shattered piece from a heated core.
Flake production outnumbers blade production at the site in the ratio of 4:1. Blades are classified here as parallel-sided pieces with a length:breadth ratio of greater than or equal to 2:1. Other struck pieces falling below this ratio which are flat in section are characterised as flakes.
There is a good deal of variance within the blade assemblage. The blades range in length from 9mm to 56mm and vary in thickness from 2mm to 5mm. The small collection shows little in the way of further modification. There are however six fragments of blades, comprising two proximal ends and four distal ends, which indicate some degree of secondary blade working.
Flakes at the site have a major range in size from a large opaque brown piece of particularly good quality flint (Int. 2, S.F. 36 ) measuring 45mm x 60mm x 8mm to smaller examples of small chipped flakes, e.g. a small chip 8mm x 8mm x 2mm (Int. 1, context 1195) which may represent platform preparation.
Whereas many of the flakes have been removed by direct percussion with a hard hammer the opposite is true of blades. In all cases it appears that indirect percussion or use of soft hammers has been employed to ensure maximum control over the thickness of the finished blade.
Thirty pieces in the assemblage have been modified to form tools. The figures include pieces with light edge damage although those recovered during Intervention 2 should be treat with caution given their retrieval following topsoiling. Table 2.3 sets out the tool types at the site:
| Tool Type | Int. 1 | Int. 2 | Total Quantity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Projectile | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Miscellaneous retouch | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Scraper | 4 | 5 | 9 |
| Borer | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Utilised blade | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Utilised flake | 7 | 7 | 14 |
| Total | 16 | 14 | 30 |
There is a single projectile point (Int. 2, S.F. 16 ). This is a small bifacially worked point produced on a thick flake with a ridged dorsal surface which retains remnants of cortex. This piece could be classified as a crude leaf arrowhead but at 10mm thick is not typical of this sort of artifact.
Scrapers are the most common worked lithic artifact. Scraper types are summarised in Table 2.4 below:
| Scraper Type | Find No's. | Quantity |
|---|---|---|
| Simple retouched flakes | Int. 1, S.F.'s 25, 32 & 33 | 3 |
| Elongated symmetrical end and edge scrapers | Int. 1, S.F. 32; Int. 2, S.F. 27 & 44 | 3 |
| Thumbnail/button scrapers | Int. 2, S.F.'s 15, 19 & 55 | 3 |
| Total | 9 | |
The simplest form of scraper from these interventions are struck flakes with retouch around all but the proximal end .
More developed forms are also present. These are based upon elongated flakes with a greater sense of symmetry applied in their manufacture. One example (Int. 2, S.F. 2 ) has a distal end with retouch at a 70-degree angle with much lighter retouch at the edges. The proximal end is of particular interest as there is evidence of grinding producing a rounded edge around the perimeter of the striking platform. This scraper class includes a robust example based on a particularly thick flake (Int. 1, S.F. 32 ).
The final scraper types present are thumbnail or button scrapers based on small, thick sub-circular flakes. One of these is particularly tactile with a concavity in its dorsal surface that forms a suitable cradle for the users thumb-end when held (Int. 2, S.F. 15 ).
There are a number of pieces which have evidence of damage along the edges occasioned by light trimming or through use. These are usually based on flakes (e.g. Int. 2, S.F. 36 ) although useful cutting edges have also been utilised on suitable blades. In one case the proximal end and edges of a wide flat blade (Int. 1, S.F. 31 ) have been reworked with some fairly haphazard retouch.
A single borer or piercing tool (Int. 1, S.F. 32 ) was identified amongst the assemblage. This is based upon a suitably shaped spoke of debitage. The end of the piece is blunted and polished through use.
Four stone flakes (S.F. 48) from Intervention 1 refit to form an almost complete stone axehead missing only its butt end. The axe has split along its length into four flakes of fairly equal thickness. The axe is 89mm long in its present state, 58mm wide at its widest and 33mm thick. The cutting edge has been sharpened on occasion causing a slight loss of symmetry
The raw material is a grey volcanic tuff which could be narrowed down to source, potentially Cumbria, North Wales or Scotland, by thin section analysis.
It is possible that the axehead has been shattered purposefully. However its fracture seems to emanate from the missing end making this interpretation uncertain. There are some slightly darker patches on the surface of the axe that may be soot residue suggesting that the axe may have been heated perhaps to aid its destruction.
Following deposition the surfaces of two of the flakes have taken on a dull brown patina whereas the other two flakes are unaffected. The axe has a number of lines of weakness on the surface manifesting as hairline cracks meaning that care is needed in packaging and handling the item.
The raw material is very similar to that from Interventions 1 and 2. It is again very homogenous with the majority of pieces being grey or light brown, often with a range of different shades within one piece. There are a number of pieces of creamy cherty flint which were found in concentration in context 1277, the upper backfill of a pit. Again, very few items have any cortex. When this is present it is worn from glacial or wave action and extremely thin in section. Chert is also present with 25 pieces of a grey-black material. There are two fragments of siliceous sandstone from context 1061 (Int. 5, S.F.’s 11 &12) which are probably natural. There is a further non-flint item from context 1341 (S.F. 21). This is an unidentified burnt stone or ceramic that has begun to slag on one of its surfaces.
There are a number of pieces with modern damage. This is limited to several pieces with chipped edges and two snapped pieces which are detailed in the catalogue. Other then these examples there are few obvious signs of attrition following deposition.
There are only five burnt pieces from Intervention 5 and a further 2 from Intervention 6. There is no correlation between burning and context with three of the pieces from Intervention 5 being from unstratified contexts. A piece from the fieldwalked collection has being highly fired and its surface has become glazed (Int. 6, S.F. 14).
The knapped character of the assemblage has been defined as in intervention 1 & 2, above.
Table 3.1 sets out the incidence of the varying forms from Interventions 5 and 6:
| Type | Quantity by Intervention | Percentage by Intervention | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 6 | Total | 5 | 6 | Total | |
| Blades (inc. pieces of) | 49 | 1 | 50 | 16.4 | 5 | 15.8 |
| Cores (inc. pieces of) | 10 | 0 | 10 | 3.4 | 0 | 3.2 |
| Debitage (irregular shattered pieces & burnt waste) | 118 | 7 | 125 | 39.4 | 39.5 | 39.4 |
| Flakes (inc. pieces of) | 113 | 10 | 123 | 37.8 | 55.5 | 38.8 |
| Natural pieces (inc. pot lids) | 9 | 0 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 2.8 |
| Total | 299 | 18 | 317 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Non-burnt debitage accounts for almost 40% of the lithics from Interventions 5 & 6. The debitage was again graded in size. The results of the grading are shown in Table 3.2 below:
| Debitage size | Quantity | Percentage (%) |
|---|---|---|
| >10mm<15mm | 50 | 43.5 |
| >15mm<20mm | 27 | 23.5 |
| >20mm<25mm | 12 | 10.5 |
| >25mm<30mm | 13 | 11 |
| >30mm<35mm | 8 | 7 |
| >35mm<40mm | 3 | 2.5 |
| >40mm<45mm | 0 | 0 |
| >45mm<50mm | 1 | 1 |
| >50mm<55mm | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 115 | 100 |
Eleven cores are present from the excavated assemblage of Intervention 5. Table 3.3, below, summaries the core classification for the site.
| Platform type and number in brackets | Single (1) | Opposed (2) | At right angles (2) | At right angles and opposed (3) | Irregular (3) | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quantity | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
The dominant core type is single platform (e.g. S.F. 67 ). These are all quite small examples with a maximum face length being 49mm. There is a single core with two opposed platforms (Int. 5, S.F. 19 ). The incidences of cores with three platforms are less common. There is one example with two opposed platforms and a third at right angles (Int. 5, S.F. 29 ). There is also a more irregular core with three main platforms (Int. 5, S.F. 52). Both of these multi-platform examples are black chert rather than flint.
Flake production outnumbers blade production at the site in the ratio of 2.5:1. Blades and flake classification are as defined above.
The blade collection consists of small examples varying on average between 10mm and 40mm in length. The blades range in length from 9mm to 56mm and vary in thickness from 2mm to 5mm. There is good evidence for secondary blade working with twenty-two fragments of blades, comprising nine proximal ends, eight distal ends, and five mid sections. Many of the blades have been modified with edge use or retouch (see below).
Flakes at the site range in size from medium sized flakes, rarely exceeding 40mm in maximum dimension, to smaller chips which are less than 10mm wide.
A mixture of hard and soft hammer percussion has been used to removed flakes from their cores. However in almost all cases it appears that indirect percussion or use of soft hammers has been utilised to minimise the thickness of blades produced.
Forty-eight pieces in the assemblage have been modified into or used as tools. The figures include pieces with light edge damage, although those pieces collected during Intervention 6 should be treated with caution given their collection following topsoiling. Table 3.4 sets out the tool types at the site:
| Tool Type | Int. 5 | Int. 6 | Total Quantity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Projectile | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| Miscellaneous retouch | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Scraper | 4 | 1 | 4 |
| Fabricator | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Utilised blade | 9 | 1 | 10 |
| Utilised debitage | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Utilised flake | 24 | 3 | 27 |
| Total | 48 | 7 | 55 |
The projectiles at the site consist of five microliths and one leaf shaped arrowhead, all from Intervention 5. The microliths are all later Mesolithic, geometric, narrow blade examples . There are two scalene triangles (S.F. 19 & S.F. 30 ), a backed blade (S.F. 30 ) and two obliquely blunted points (S.F. 36 , S.F. 38 ). There is a single microburin that was recovered from an unstratified context (S.F. 71 ).
A single leaf-shaped arrowhead was recovered from Intervention 5, context 1514 . This is missing its tip but is otherwise in good condition. The break across the tip has a fresh appearance revealing an interior colour several shades lighter than the outside suggesting a modern fracture. The arrowhead is pressure flaked across the entire face on one side only.
There are only a small number of scrapers given the size of the assemblage. There are three small scrapers based upon squat flakes. One is a simple end scraper with invasive retouch (Int. 5, S.F. 49 ). This scraper shares similarities with the thumbnail examples from Intervention 2 in the invasiveness of the retouch but is not as circular. These three small scrapers include a much squatter and robust example perhaps for heavier duty work (Int. 5, S.F. 56 ). Finally there is a primary flake with end and edge retouch (Int. 6, S.F. 4) although part of its left edge missing.
There is a very gracile piece with a knife like edge and invasive retouch forming a scraping edge from context 1003 (Int. 5, S.F. 1 ). This has been made on a large blank of high quality translucent brown flint and considerable investment has been made in its manufacture.
There are a good number of pieces which have evidence of damage along the edges occasioned by light trimming or through use. Pieces with modified edges include blades, flakes and suitable chunks of debitage (e.g. Int. 6, S.F. 12). In one instance edge glossing was noted on a utilised flake (Int. 5, S.F. 29). There is an interesting flake from context 1513 (Int. 5, S.F. 29 ) that has been modified to form a steeply retouched scraping tool.
The majority of utilised pieces are for scraping or cutting functions. There is however one piece of debitage with a retouched drill like end (Int. 5, Context 1684 ).
There is a single example of a fabricator amongst the assemblage (Int. 5, S.F. 3 ). This large ridged blade has battered, well worn edges and one particularly abraded end. The item has a smoothed, well-worn feel that gives the impression that it has had a long service.
In terms of spatial analysis there are few apparent trends. One feature (No. 164, context 1277), a pit from Intervention 5, produced 125 flints, only three of which were worked. The material consisted of waste flakes and debitage along with a single opposed platform core . The raw material from this feature was principally a pale cream Yorkshire Wolds flint. It is possible that the majority of this material was reduced from the same parent nodule. The microlith from this context is a brown flint and is probably not originally associated with the knapping debris.
A small collection of six items was recovered during trial trenching in Intervention 8. The raw material is consistent with that from the previous interventions (see above). Only one piece is burnt. The assemblage consists of two blades, including one with edge use, two unmodified flakes, a piece of debitage and a microlith (Int. 8; S.F. 3 ). The microlith is an obliquely blunted point of the late Mesolithic period based on a narrow blade of creamy flint.
The raw material from all of the interventions is relatively homogenous being characterised by grey and brown flint. The most likely sources are eastern coast beach flint or eroding deposits from local tills or gravels. There is a smaller sample of creamy-grey pieces amongst the assemblage that demonstrate the characteristics of 'Wolds’ flint. The various chert samples from the site are likely to be local in origin and are typically associated with sources in the Pennines.
The majority of the flints from the assemblages can shed little light on site chronology. The bulk of the tools are simple flakes or blades with some degree of edge use. These items were probably produced for a variety of activities throughout prehistory and then discarded with little ceremony.
The earliest materials present are the microliths and microburin from Interventions 5 and 8. These geometric forms all date to the later Mesolithic period. One of the microliths , from Intervention 5, is a narrow blade, retouched on both sides. It is narrow and almost rod-like suggesting a date of the very later or terminal Mesolithic. The contexts from which the microliths were recovered suggest that all these finds are residual.
The crude projectile point from Intervention 1 and the leaf-shaped arrowhead from Intervention 5 are both early Neolithic innovations although such projectiles can also occur in Bronze Age contexts (Green, 1984, p. 33).
The fabricator from Intervention 5 fits an earlier or later Neolithic date. These enigmatic tools were probably used for working materials such as leather. It has also been suggested that they may have been used as 'strike-a-lights’ (Edmonds, 1995, p. 41).
Stone axes such as that from the backfill of a small scoop in Intervention 1 became common from the onset of the Neolithic. The perhaps purposeful destruction of the axe is paralleled at the Mayburgh henge near Penrith, Cumbria.
Dating of scrapers is more problematic. This type of tool was the mainstay of the stone tool kit for several millennia and it is difficult to assess the subtle differences between different styles in terms of chronology.
The scrapers from Intervention 1 & 2 have been broken down in to three basic categories. The simple edge retouched pieces could have been produced at any time during prehistory as expediency demanded. This is also true of the smaller scrapers from Interventions 5 & 6. There are three scrapers from Interventions 1 & 2 based on elongated flakes with end and edge retouch. These scrapers have been manufactured with a good deal of symmetry in mind. This symmetry and use of end and edge retouch has been suggested as characteristic of Later Neolithic scraping tools (Edmonds, 1995, p. 96).
The three thumbnail or button scrapers from Intervention 2 form a class of artifact that appears in the early Bronze Age and are a common feature of Beaker associated assemblages. Stray find 49 from Intervention 5 probably also fits this date .
The lithic material from the current Nosterfield Interventions is consistent with exploitation of this area throughout prehistory. Evidence for Mesolithic material was absent from the earlier seasons of work in the early 1990s (Rowe, 1998). The small collection of microliths along with a microburin adds a new dimension to the emerging picture of the landscape in early prehistory. Other tools types at the site including a stone axe, scrapers, a fabricator and a leaf shaped arrowhead demonstrate this human presence till at least the early Bronze Age.
The material present few opportunities to comment on specific activities or use of discrete parts of the site. Many of the finds are unstratified and those from Interventions 2 & 6 are from surface collections. What is apparent is that there is a full suite of tool types present along with cores and debitage to suggest on site use, production and maintenance of tools.
Edmonds, M. 1995. Stone Tools and Society. Batsford.
Green, H.S. 1984. Flint Arrowheads: Typology and Interpretation. Lithics 5, pp. 19-39.
Rowe, P. 1998. Nosterfield 1991, 1994-1996. Flint Report. Unpublished report for Blaise Vyner Heritage and Arts.