click picture to view', 'PHOTOGRAPH:')" onMouseOut="nd()">MESOLITHIC 10,000-4000 BC

Two areas have produced evidence of early Mesolithic activity dating to around 9000 BC. So far this is the earliest known use of the land. The first 'site' comprised an area of flint knapping which had taken place in the shelter of a fallen tree. Some distance away, a large enigmatic pit contained 52 kilos of burnt flint. There were large quantities of tools and flint waste in and around these features.

NEOLITHIC 4000-2000 BC

Typical Neolithic flint tools consisting of beautifully worked arrowheads and scrapers confirm activity at this time. A small amount of pottery has also been found. Parts of three stone axes of Cornish origin hint at long-distance exchange or barter.

BRONZE AGE 2000-800 BC

Flint working continued throughout the Bronze Age. The tools however, were not as finely made as in the preceding periods. Huge quantities of worked flint are found all over the site, not only in the excavated areas but also in the topsoil. To date eight Bronze Age houses have been located. Field boundaries in the form of ditches divided up the land and crops of barley, wheat and Celtic beans were grown. Very little animal bone survives, however sheeep must have been part of a mixed farming regime; shale spindle whorls and ceramic loom weights attest to the spinning and weaving of wool. Pottery was made on site and other small-scale industries included shale and metal working. The excavation has produced the largest assemblage of Middle Bronze Age pottery in this country. Three Middle Bronze Age cremations have been identified, a man, a woman and an infant, were all interred in plain urns. The infant was in a tiny, upturned vessel.

IRON AGE AND ROMAN PERIOD 800 BC - AD 410

Pottery production continued throughout this period. A settlement area, dating to about 200 BC, was identified in the extreme south-eastern part of the site. Enclosure ditches surrounded a round house and large amounts of pottery and a complete quern stone suggest that this was still an agricultural based society. Small ditched-fields characterised most of the site. However, between AD 220 and 410 a large-scale pottery production site, next to the River Frome, was in operation. This largely obliterated the remains of the Iron Age settlement. Thirty-two kiln-type structures produced enormous quantities of 'Black Burnished Ware' pottery. This was exported all over England and as far as northern France. Three cremations and five burials have been dated to the Roman period. A notable find was the hoard of 1,562 silver coins which had been buried in a cooking pot.

POST-ROMAN AND SAXON PERIOD AD 410 - 1066

Nearly 1000 charcoal-filled pits have been excavated. Radiocarbon dating has identified that they were in use during the Middle Saxon period, between AD 700 and AD 850. The charred wood that characterises these pits was oak and, to a lesser degree, holly. It is likely that many of the pits were associated with charcoal burning and an iron working industry which has also been attributed to this period.

One pit has been dated to the years before AD 600, it contained rare grass-tempered pottery but also Roman-style Black Burnished Ware. Half a dozen Saxon pits have been identified, Black Burnished Ware was also retrieved from their fills.

MEDIEVAL PERIOD AD 1066 - 1500

Domesday Book written in 1086 notes that Bestwall was a large agricultural settlement with meadow, pasture and woodland. However, there are generally small numbers of finds from this period. The implication is that much of the land may have been laid to pasture.

Small amounts of pottery and metalwork have been found from Medieval times, but generally there appears to be a dearth of features and finds until the late medieval period. Domesday Book implies a large, late-Saxon settlement on the peninsula. It has been possible to correlate archaeological and documentary evidence and pinpoint the site of English Civil War activity. The agricultural emphasis continues unbroken until recently when the quarrying programme has now dramatically changed the landscape. Wetland areas lakes and gently sloping fields have replaced the hedged fields.