The modern shoreline near the footprints. This might have been a good place to trap game flushed from the low-lying forest, the cliffs acting as a natural corral. Caldey Island can be seen to the right, location for a number of caves used during the same Mesolithic period.
The Mesolithic footprints (human and animal) were found bottom left.
Lydstep Haven from Proud Giltar after sunset. In the Mesolithic this would have been a view of trees instead of water.
Coflein information about the drowned forest and assorted footprints:
An extensive peat deposit which was uncovered by exceptionally high tides during the winter of 2009-10. In the surface of the deposit a number of footprints were visible, both of human and animal form. Many of the footprints were quite confused, suggesting that people were milling around on the edge of what would have been a wetland area bordering a lake or lagoon in the Bronze Age. Some distinct sets of tracks of human and animal origin were also determined. In particular, foot prints appearing to be of red deer were clearly recorded.
On 24th June 2010 the RCAHMW laser scanned the surface of the deposit in conjunction with Deri Jones and Associates, allowing a complete and objective recording of the extent of the deposit and footprints to be made.
Radiocarbon 14 dates suggest 6150+/-120BP, 5300+/-100BP (OXA-1378, OXA-1412), calibrated to 5400-4750 BC, 4350-3940BC. Artefacts recovered from the northen end of the beach include 36 flint tools from a level of ‘1ft deep in red clay drift’ and the Lydstep pig. Contemporary sketches of the find from Tenby Museum show that a stone arrow head was found in the pig’s shoulder. The surface of one part of the peat exposure was laser scanned by RCAHMW staff in 2011 working with staff and volunteers from Dyfed Archaeological Trust.
The Lydstep pig – missing meal or ancestral offering?
