Highcliffe
Nab
The earliest evidence of human activity
on Teesside.
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Highcliffe Nab is a rocky outcrop on the edge
of the North Yorkshire Moors in the north east
of England and overlooks the medieval town of
Guisborough. It is situated 310 metres above
sea level on the Cleveland Way long-distance
footpath and provides a stunning viewpoint across
the Tees Valley and across the moors to the south-west.
Map
Reference NZ 610 138.
Amateur archaeologists, Norman and
Patricia Harbord, collected over two thousand
worked flints from the eroding surface of the
Nab in the early 1990s and many of these were
characteristic of the Mesolithic period when hunting
and gathering was the prime mode of subsistence.
People
would have lived a life similar to the Native
Americans or Aboriginal Australians, moving around
the landscape to exploit natural resources when
they became available at different times of the
year. This is the earliest evidence of human activity
on Teesside and dates from around 6000 to 3200
BC.
The popularity of the site with walkers
meant that the site was rapidly eroding. A new
stone footpath was proposed from the base of the
Nab to its summit. Tees Archaeology arranged to
excavate the bedding trench for this by hand over
a 3-week period in August 1995.
Although
erosion and forestry furrow ploughing already
disturbed much of the site, stratified archaeological
deposits were confirmed. Over 850 further flints
were recovered from a trench only 1 metre wide
and 15 metres long. The flint tools recovered
from the site include scrapers for processing
meat and skins, microliths used as projectile
points and sharp pointed pieces used for piercing.
The
flints collected from the excavation are in permanent
storage at Tees Archaeology, Hartlepool, England
and can be viewed by appointment. Further salvage
recording in 1996 was undertaken on the most eroded
part of the cliff top and a small hearth was exposed
and material was sent for radiocarbon dating.
The excavation confirmed that hunter-gatherers
who took advantage of the fine vantage point as
an observation post and beacon point occupied
Highcliffe Nab in the Mesolithic period. Burnt
flint from the excavations indicated that fires
were lit at the summit of the Nab.
These
may have been campfires but could also have been
used to signal to other people in the surrounding
landscape. It is also likely that the Mesolithic
people utilised the viewpoint to track herds of
wild animals such as deer and wild cattle across
the landscape.
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