Archaeology fieldwork season on the Carrs

A team of archaeologists from a number of universities have been once again concentrating their efforts to investigate the unique Mesolithic heritage of the peaty Carr-lands over the summer vacation.

Academics and students from York, Manchester, UCL were joined by Sheffield and Bradford students in a coordinated set of archaological excavations to further the understanding of important Stone-Age hunter-gatherer sites in the project area. This year some geophysical surveys, soil cores and test pits were done on the Project's Star Carr stewardship site just north of the Hertford River, as well as the established settlement site just over the river.  An equivalent 'lake-shore' environment on School House Farm at Flixton was also uncovered, where the peat deposits are deeper.

Among their discoveries, they found that the Star Carr Mesolithic settlement extends across a wider area than previously recorded by mapping the scatters of worked flint pieces. More worryingly soil pH levels were found to be very acidic, around pH 2-3 in places, threatening the preservation of yet-to-be-discovered organic artefacts for which the site is most famous. Items made of animal bone and antler, found at Star Carr, are extremely unusual for 10 000yr old sites but, up to now the peat has preserved them. 

Archaeologists are concerned that soil changes are related to modern landuse changes, as only a few decades ago artefacts from the same site were removed intact and well-preserved.  "The acids de-mineralise the bone" said Dr Nicky Milner or York University, co-ordinating work on site, "so that what's left is just like jelly and very fragile."

The wetland project will continue to work closely with the archaeologists to work out how best the area's historical value can be preserved, recorded and interpreted to the scientific community and the general public.