|31 March 2014
Recent research on prehistoric buildings near Liverpool
Eighteen months ago, archaeologists found traces of two substantial buildings measuring between 4m and 6m across on a low sandy promontory in the valley of the River Alt, at Lunt, near Liverpool (Merseyside, England). Burnt timbers from one of them gave a date of about 5800 BCE.
Ron Cowell, Curator of Prehistoric Archaeology at the Museum of Liverpool, and his team have been working to catalogue the site. Cowell remarks: "What is surprising about the buildings at Lunt is that they use small sand ridges and banks in the landscape as part of the structure, which then extend outwards in curves of post-holes and stake holes. This makes them appear much more architecturally sophisticated than the more usually found Mesolithic sites which are mostly interpreted as small, ephemeral, temporary camp sites."
Both buildings seem to have had multiple phases of use, and it is possible the site was occupied for quite some time on a repeated, semi-permanent basis. Coarse stone tools and finer worked flint have been recovered from inside the structures, as well as large amounts of chert.
According to Cowell, "the nearest source for chert would have been at least 30 miles (50 kilometres) away in North Wales or even further away if it came from Derbyshire."
The site appears to have been flooded by about 5000 BCE. After laying at the bottom of a shallow lake for several hundred years, it was inundated by the sea.
Edited from Crosby Herald (20 March 2014)
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