9 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

10,500-year-old stone Age Hunter-Gatherer settlement found in England

A team of archaeologists from the University of Chester and Manchester has discovered a stone age Hunter-Gatherer settlement during excavations near Scarborough, England.

Excavations carried out by the team at a site in North Yorkshire have uncovered the exceptionally well-preserved remains of a small settlement inhabited by groups of hunter-gatherers around 10,500 years ago. Among the finds that the team recovered were the bones of animals that people hunted, tools and weapons made from bone, antler and stone, and rare traces of woodworking.

The site near Scarborough originally lay on the shore of an island in an ancient lake and dates to the Mesolithic, or ‘Middle Stone Age’ period. Over thousands of years the lake slowly filled in with thick deposits of peat, which gradually buried and preserved the site.

Photo: University of Chester

Dr Nick Overton from The University of Manchester said: “It is so rare to find material this old in such good condition. The Mesolithic in Britain was before the introduction of pottery or metals, so finding organic remains like bone, antler and wood, which are usually not preserved, are incredibly important in helping us to reconstruct peoples’ lives.”

Analysis of the finds is allowing the team to learn more and change what has been previously understood about these early prehistoric communities. The bones show that people were hunting a wide range of animals in a number of different habitats around the lake, including large mammals such as elk and red deer, smaller mammals such as beavers, and water birds. The bodies of hunted animals were butchered and parts of them were intentionally deposited into the wetlands at the island site.

The team also discovered that some of the hunting weapons made of animal bone and antler had been decorated, and had been taken apart before being deposited on the island’s shore. This, they believe, shows that Mesolithic people had strict rules about how the remains of animals and objects used to kill them were disposed of.

University of Chester
Photo: University of Chester

According to Dr Amy Gray Jones from the University of Chester: “People often think of prehistoric hunter-gatherers as living on the edge of starvation, moving from place to place in an endless search for food, and that it was only with the introduction of farming that humans lived a more settled and stable lifestyle. But here we have people inhabiting a rich network of sites and habitats, taking the time to decorate objects, and taking care over the ways they disposed of animal remains and important artefacts. These aren’t people that were struggling to survive. They were people confident in their understanding of this landscape, and of the behaviours and habitats of different animal species that lived there.”

The team hopes that future research at this site and others in the area will continue to shed new light on people’s relationship with the environment. Analysis of peat deposits around the site is already showing that this was an incredibly biodiverse landscape, rich in plant and animal life, and as work continues, the team hopes to find out what effects humans had on this environment.

Cover Photo: University of Chester

University of Chester

Related Articles

A First in Türkiye: ‘Pilgrim Dimitrakis’ Inscribed Skull Found in Sinop

1 August 2024

1 August 2024

A male skull with the Greek inscription “Pilgrim Dimitrakis” was found during archaeological excavations at Balatlar Church in Sinop, on...

New Study Reveals the Contribution of Female Scribes in Medieval Manuscript Production

2 April 2025

2 April 2025

A recent study sheds light on the often-overlooked contributions of women in the production of handwritten manuscripts during the Middle...

Human remains found at prison sewer site are 4,500 years old in East Yorkshire

26 March 2024

26 March 2024

Archaeologists investigating the site of a new sewer to serve a jail being built at Full Sutton in East Yorkshire,...

A woman in Norway found Viking-age 1000-year-old hoard in basement

20 April 2023

20 April 2023

A woman in Norway cleaned her parents’ home, she found 32 iron ingots dating to the Viking or early Middle...

Using Google Earth and aircraft reconnaissance, archaeologists identify unknown sites and Serbia’s hidden Bronze Age megastructures

17 November 2023

17 November 2023

Using Google Earth and aircraft reconnaissance, archaeologists at University College Dublin identified more than 100 previously unknown sites. Satellite remote...

China exhibits 2,000-year-old artifacts discovered in Guangzhou

12 August 2021

12 August 2021

On August 10, the National Museum of China launched an exhibition featuring archaeological finds from ancient China’s Qin (221–207 BC)...

Viking Tomb Discovery in Denmark May Reveal Elite Family Linked to King Harald Bluetooth

20 June 2025

20 June 2025

A stunning archaeological discovery near Aarhus, Denmark, has revealed 30 Viking Age graves that may belong to a powerful aristocratic...

The two sarcophagi discovered beneath Notre Dame start to reveal their secrets

12 December 2022

12 December 2022

The owner of one of the two sarcophagi that were found in an excavation at the intersection of Notre Dame...

14th-century inscription found on Turkey’s Giresun Island

4 January 2022

4 January 2022

On Giresun Island, which is 1.2 kilometers (0.7 miles) off the Turkish province of Giresun on the Black Sea’s southeastern...

A Mysterious Human Face Carved on Stone Dated to Bronze Age Discovered in Kazakhstan

21 July 2024

21 July 2024

Kazakhstan’s rich archaeological landscape continues to reveal fascinating details about ancient civilizations. Recent research in the Akmola, and Pavlodar revealed...

Ritual Sacrifice of Pregnant Woman: Ecuador may Reflect the Community’s Fear of Her Power

28 January 2025

28 January 2025

In a remarkable archaeological find in Ecuador, researchers have uncovered the rich burial of a pregnant woman and her fetus,...

45,000 years ago, Neanderthals in the Swabian Jura used complex tool-making techniques

13 September 2021

13 September 2021

Findings that will change our perception of Neanderthals’ sophistication A team from the University of Tübingen have proved that Middle...

4,000-Year-Old Seal Found at Tavşanlı Mound in Western Türkiye

17 August 2024

17 August 2024

4,000-year-old seal were found at the Tavşanlı Mound (or Tavşanlı Höyük) in Türkiye’s Kütahya province—located in the west of the...

In Lviv, Ukraine, a secret room where Jews were hiding in city sewers during the Nazi Holocaust has been unearthed

7 November 2021

7 November 2021

In the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, diggers have uncovered new hiding spots in underground sewers where some Jews managed...

Mandrin cave in France shows Homo Sapiens arrived in Europe almost 10,000 years earlier than thought

10 February 2022

10 February 2022

According to archaeological research published in Science magazine on Wednesday, Homo sapiens ventured into the Neanderthal territory in Europe far...