East Midlands Archaeological Research Framework: Resource Assessment of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Nottinghamshire

There are some 70 records which refer to Palaeolithic and Mesolithic material in the Nottinghamshire Sites and Monuments Record (figs 1 and 2). Little of this has come from formal excavation, the caves at Creswell Crags, and the Mesolithic site at Misterton being the principal examples. Acheulian and Mousterian hand axes and flakes are recorded in some quantity from the gravels of the 1 (Beeston) terrace of the Trent . Most of these are attributed to secondary deposition, with those from the Stoney Street Pit in Beeston for example, being described as heavily rolled. On the other hand, the sheer quantity from some locations, as with the 16 axes and 30 flakes from the Tootle Brook Pit, does raise questions about this interpretation. Otherwise, most of our Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic material comes from fieldwalking or casual finds, and consists of stone tools and debitage. Organic artefacts are rare and of bone or antler, such as the Mesolithic harpoon head from Attenborough or the upper palaeolithic engraved horse head from Cresswell Crags (actually from just within Derbyshire, needing mention as our only example of naturalistic art).