| THE PALEOLITHIC PERIOD: FOOD GATHERERS | |||||||
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The earliest prehistoric culture of which remains
have been found in Somerset is the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Little is
known of this period except that it was immensely long, lasting up to the time
of the last glaciation. During this many thousands of years, Britain was at
times part of the European land-mass; at other times sea levels changed
considerably and some parts of this country were covered by the sea.
Paleolithic remains have been found in river gravel terraces far above the
present water level in valleys; others are deeply buried by later deposits. In
Somerset, the flint tools-oval, pear-shaped and pointed hand axes-of this
early culture have been found in the Avon valley, in the gravels of the Tone
and its tributaries from the Blackdown Hills, and on the sea-shore of the
Watchet area, where the teeth and tusks of mammoths have been found close by.
At Broom, in the valley of the Devonshire Axe just on the border of Somerset,
large numbers of these implements have been dug from gravel quarries, which
suggests that this area was the principal source of supply for the West
Somerset finds.
At a very much later phase during the Paleolithic period, the limestone caves of the Mendip Hills provided shelter for one of the most important known settlements in England. The Cheddar caves, the Hyena Den at Wookey Hole, Aveline's Hole in Burrington Combe. as well as many other caves, have been excavated to reveal the remains of these primitive people. These remains include the famous Cheddar Man from Goughs Cave, and at Avelines Hole, a burial with a necklace of shells, together with many implements of flint and bone. In deep layers within the caves or under overhanging shelters of rock have been found, in considerable quantities, the bones of bison, reindeer, red deer and horse. These were the animals on which the cave dwellers depended for food and clothing, but their food was probably supplemented by nuts, fruit and berries gathered from the hills around. Though these settlements appear to have some degree of permanence it must be remembered that only very few people can have been living there at any one time. Indeed, throughout the whole period of both of these early cultures, the total population of what is now Britain must have been very small, perhaps only a few hundred. |
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