Archaeology
Fieldwalking in the Ditton Brook valley in the 1980s had shown that this area was important to prehistoric people about 6000 or 7000 years ago. In 1993 the construction of the A5300 link road from Prescot to Widnes allowed several locations to be excavated in advance to learn more about them.
Three sites were excavated. They were all fairly small and were probably used by small groups of hunters about 4000-5000 BC, during the Mesolithic period. Their mobile lifestyle, dependant on hunting and gathering wild plants, has left many traces in present day north west England.
The excavated camps only cover a few square metres. We found stone tools but only a few hundred at each site, which is a small number compared with the 14,000 tools found on a slightly earlier hunter-gatherer site at Greasby. There was no evidence for structures on the sites. Instead the activity took place around tree hollows. This is probably because people were only at the site for short periods of time, so they did not spend a great deal of energy in building shelters. Instead they used natural shelters, perhaps where a tree had fallen over leaving a hollow which could be used as the basis for a fire.
A selection of flint tools from one of the camps. The distinctive
shapes are called blades which are characteristic of this period.
Pollen analysis of peat from the valley close to the site shows that the landscape was covered in thick alder woodland and areas of wetland. This would have been ideal for people making their living from the land. They would have been able to find many different things in a small area. They would have caught fish and wild birds at the water's edge and eaten and used wetland plants. They could also have caught wild animals visiting the water to drink. The river and nearby streams would have provided routes through the thick woodlands. People might also have collected flint from the local boulder clay for making their tools.
The evidence at Greasby consisted of a hearth or fireplace and a series of pits which may have been used for storing food and later rubbish disposal. In one small pit, under some pebbles at the bottom, we found a little group of pre-shaped stone pieces. These were ready to be made into arrowheads, or microliths. There were many different types of stone tools. They could have been used for activities such as food preparation, bone/wood working or hunting. One small area may have been associated with an episode of stone working, probably by a specialist flint knapper. There was also a square area of packed stone pebbles which may have been the basis of a working area, perhaps for the preparation of food or other materials. The evidence suggests that people might have stayed here for several months at a time.
Although there are many such sites on a low sandstone hill in Greasby, this is the only one that has been excavated. Prehistoric hunter-gatherer groups must have returned time and again to this same area perhaps over hundreds of years. The place may have had a special meaning to them. Several miles away, at Thurstaston, overlooking the present Dee estuary, there is an even denser concentration of stone tools. This represents another important area for similar occupation episodes of this period.