A 1960 photograph of local Archaeologist C.T. Trenchman. Trenchman spent many years studying the forest.
Image and information taken from The Museum of Hartlepool.
thisishartlepool.co.uk/attractions/museum.asp
Well worth a visit!
“The Remains of a human skeleton, dated to the Neolithic (4680+/-60 BP; 3632-3342 cal BC;) Found partially exposed in the peat deposits”.
“The find was made in February 1972 by Reg Dowey, who recovered several bones, including a skull and five flints”.
These remains are now displayed in the Hartlepool Museum. thisishartlepool.co.uk/attractions/museum.asp
Details from
Archaeology & Environment of Submerged Landscapes in Hartlepool Bay, England.
By Mags Waughman
Tees Archaeology Monograph Series Volume 2
2005
Available from
Tees Archaeology
teesarchaeology.com/projects/hartlepool_submerged_forest/index.html
The earliest peat in this region was layed down about 7000 years ago and may be part of the land bridge that existed between Britain and the rest of Europe. Much of what is now the North sea is thought to have been low-lying fenland.
Roughly 6000 years ago the area was inundated by the sea for the first time, a little over 5000 years ago peat once again began to form as a result of a brief fall in sea level. The bogs were colonised by alder, elm, oak and hazel. The first evidence of human activity is of mesolithic hunter gatherers. There have been frequent finds of the bones and antlers of red deer, some of these antlers have been worked for use as tools.
Around 3000BC pollen records show that the trees were in decline and grasslands were on the increase. At the same time charcoal appears in the deposits. Finds including flints, axes and cut timbers have been found in the deposits.
In 1971 the skeleton of a neolithic man was discovered. The man aged between 25 and 35 had been placed in the peat in a crouched position on his right side. near his right elbow a small group of flints had been placed and there is evidence that his body had been covered with birch twigs.
The peat beds exposed at low tide in Hartlepool Bay are among the largest areas of ancient mesolithic landscape still to be seen.
View from the site of the Neolithic Forest
Tees Archaeologys Submerged forest page
