page_title: Monmouth in the Mesolithic period
section_title: Conclusions
hierarchical_section_title: Monmouth in the Mesolithic period / Conclusions
caption_attribution_description: English: Mesolithic artefacts (most Wommersom quartzite) found during excavation in Stevoort, 2008 (Collection Prehistoric Archeology K.U.Leuven) Nederlands: Artefacts en microlieten (de meeste in kwartsiet van Wommersom), het resultaat van de opgravingen in Stevoort 2008 (verzameling van de Eenheid Prehistorische Archeologie K.U. Leuven)
context_page_description: The discovery of artefacts at two excavation sites in 2010 revealed human settlement at Monmouth in the Mesolithic period. The artefacts uncovered by archaeologists at St James' Square and Wyebridge Street included charcoal, flints, and bone fragments. The discovery has led to the conclusion that the site of Monmouth, adjoining the confluence of the rivers Monnow and Wye in south east Wales, was inhabited thousands of years earlier than previously believed.
context_section_description: The archaeologists concluded that there was human settlement in Monmouth thousands of years earlier than formerly thought. The findings revealed that the River Wye supported a camp of settlers during the Mesolithic era of the Stone Age, the Middle Stone Age. Elizabeth Walker, the curator at the National Museum of Wales, initially suggested in October 2010 that the artefacts were consistent with hunter-gatherers utilizing the river for food and transport about 7,000 years ago. However, Walker examined and dated the artefacts and apparently revised her analysis following formal evaluation; in an article from November 2010, Monmouth archaeologist Stephen Clarke announced that the finds dated back to about 10,000 years ago. Walker indicated that the settlers were nomadic, speculating that they resided near the river in the winter and perhaps hunted in the hills during the summer. However, historian and author Jeremy Knight, chairman of the Monmouthshire Antiquarian Association, had a slightly different take on the migratory nature of the Mesolithic settlers. He indicated that there were few known Mesolithic sites, and all of those on the coast. The nomads spent their summers on the coast and migrated inland for the winter. Therefore, the Monmouth site represented the first known inland site, the half of nomads' lives spent during the winter months.
  Walker indicated that after the Ice Age, with improvement of the climate, plants, including trees, had returned. People had also returned to the British Isles, following the game that sought out plant food. She indicated that the settlers also relied on fish for their diet. While findings of the type discovered in Monmouth had been found previously in Monmouthshire, none had been located next to the river. Temporary, nomadic settlements of the era were generally thought to be about 25 meters in width. The discovery of the flints at two sites, St James' Square and Wyebridge Street, indicated that either the settlement was very large or there were two separate Stone Age camps. Radiocarbon dating of the charcoal was planned through the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, a collaborative facility owned by both the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow. In addition, it was anticipated that Wales & West Utilities, one of the largest gas pipeline companies in the British Isles, would fund the dating as well as the geological examination of the excavation site.
caption: Examples of stone tools
  including Mesolithic microliths
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