Prehistoric stone tools and fragments of pottery have recently been discovered on Skokholm Island – a small island off the south coast of Pembrokeshire, which is owned and maintained by the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales – including the first evidence of late Mesolithic occupation there.
Richard Brown and Giselle Eagle, wardens of the island, made the initial discovery in March, spotting a smooth rectangular stone inside a rabbit hole. Photographs of the tool were sent to Dr Toby Driver of the Royal Commission, Wales, who passed them on to Dr Andrew David, an expert on prehistoric stone tools.
Commenting on the tool, Andrew said: ‘The photos were clearly of a late Mesolithic “bevelled pebble” (RIGHT), a tool thought to have been used in tasks like the preparation of seal hides for making skin-clad watercraft, or for processing foods such as shellfish, among hunter-gatherer communities some 6,000-9,000 years ago. Although these types of tool are well known on coastal sites on mainland Pembrokeshire and Cornwall, as well as into Scotland and northern France, this is the first example from Skokholm, and the first firm evidence for late Mesolithic occupation on the island.’
After this first discovery, further finds were unearthed from the warrens, including large pieces of pottery that have been identified as part of an Early Bronze Age vase urn, usually associated with cremation burials. This type of pottery is thought to date to between 2100 and 1700 BC, and it is commonly found in west Wales, but this is the first to be found on any western Pembrokeshire island.
Toby Driver and Louise Barker, also from the Royal Commission, Wales, have carried out archaeological surveys on the nearby islands of Skomer (see CA 268), Grassholm, and Ramsey (see CA 339), and plan to visit Skokholm later this year to carry out a full assessment.
Toby said: ‘We know from past aerial surveys and airborne laser-scanning by the Royal Commission that Skokholm has the remains of some prehistoric fields and settlements, though none have ever been excavated. Now Skokholm is producing some amazing prehistoric finds. It seems we may have an Early Bronze Age burial mound built over a Middle Stone Age hunter-gatherer site, disturbed by rabbits. It’s a sheltered spot, where the island’s cottage now stands, and has clearly been settled for millennia.’