The Age of the Late Mesolithic on the North York Moors, England: radiocarbon dating a small flint tool stratified in peat from East Bilsdale Moor

Abstract

Abstract There has been a considerable amount of pollen-analytical research on the palaeoecology and palaeoenvironment of the Late Mesolithic culture of the North York Moors upland in north-east Yorkshire, which together with the Pennines is the most prolific area in Britain for Late Mesolithic flint sites. The peat sediments of the Moors have provided detailed data on the vegetation history of the mid-Holocene, both natural developments and also woodland disturbance by fire, as revealed in the macroscopic and microscopic charcoal evidence preserved in the peats and in its relation to the recorded changes in woodland composition and density. The Late Mesolithic vegetation history of the North York Moors can now be reconstructed with confidence and, given the high concentration of lithic sites of that period, linkages between the archaeological and palaeoecological records are often attempted with a view to explaining disturbance regimes as resulting from the impacts of foragers’ activities in the landscape. Unlike the Pennines, however, in the North York Moors no Late Mesolithic sites have been radiocarbon dated, so no chronological correlation can be made between the palaeoenvironmental data and the archaeological evidence. This paper presents the first radiocarbon date for a Late Mesolithic flint artefact from the North York Moors, from East Bilsdale Moor, and examines its implications for the age range of the Late Mesolithic on the Moors as a whole, and for the association of evidence of woodland disturbance on the Moors upland with the presence of Late Mesolithic hunters there.