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During the final period of the separation of
Britain from the rest of Europe by the gradual formation of the English
Channel, in a milder climate, small groups of wandering hunters and fishermen
came to Britain. They had developed new methods of making tools and weapons,
using very small but delicately worked flakes of flint called microliths. This
period is known as the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) and is represented in
Somerset in three areas where microliths have been found-the Mendip Hills
and Exmoor, the coastal areas around Clevedon and Watchet, and in the Somerset
Levels at Shapwick and Middlezoy. A typical Mesolithic site was discovered at
Birdcombe near Wraxall, where the floor of a temporary hut dwelling was
excavated. The finds included many microliths, tiny pointed blades and
scrapers, many still quite sharp edged, as well as some larger implements.
Situated near a constant spring and a local source of gravel flint for making
implements, the occupation seems to have been only a brief one, perhaps during
the summer months, while some of these wandering food-gatherers were making
harpoons and arrows, using wood tar (some of which was found on the floor) to
fix the microlithic barbs into the shafts. Again, only very few people were
involved, and, so far in Somerset, no evidence of any permanent settlement has
been found.
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