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<< Our Photo Pages >> Bouldnor Underwater Settlement and Wooden Structure - Ancient Trackway in England in Isle of Wight

Submitted by coldrum on Tuesday, 10 September 2019  Page Views: 17209

Mesolithic, Palaeolithic and EarlierSite Name: Bouldnor Underwater Settlement and Wooden Structure Alternative Name: Bouldnor Cliff
Country: England County: Isle of Wight Type: Ancient Trackway
Nearest Town: Yarmouth  Nearest Village: Bouldnor
Map Ref: SZ367900
Latitude: 50.708483N  Longitude: 1.481609W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
 3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
 1 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
 1 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
 2

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Andy B visited on 21st Aug 2002 Mesolithic sites under the Solent (not necessarily this one) featured in Episode Two of BBC's History of Ancient Britain with Neil Oliver

Bouldnor Underwater Settlement and Wooden Structure
Bouldnor Underwater Settlement and Wooden Structure submitted by dodomad : Flint Arrowheads from the Isle of Wight Archaelogical artefacts from the Solent sea-bed and inter-tidal area of the Isle of Wight. Flint arrowheads ranging in date from the early Neolithic period to the Bronze Age. Copyright English Heritage Discovery not from this site but bringing together images from sites under the Solent. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ancient Settlement and Trackway in Isle of Wight. Bouldnor Cliff is a submerged Stone Age settlement off the coast of Yarmouth which was covered in silt as great sheets of ice melted at the end of the last Ice Age.

It is an important site because the muddy conditions have helped preserve organic materials from the distant past that do not normally survive on dry land. The materials date back to a time when the Isle of Wight did not exist and it was possible to walk from Britain to what is now France.

Also an underwater wooden structure of possible Mesolithic date.

DNA from wheat shows surprise cultural connections between Britain and Europe 8,000 years ago, more including video links in the page comments

Note: A repeat of this wonderful BBC Radio 3 feature length Documentary: Under the Water - Rikke Houd accompanies a team of maritime archaeologists who are racing against time and tide at the submerged Mesolithic site of Bouldnor Cliff. More details in the comments on our page.
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Bouldnor Underwater Settlement and Wooden Structure
Bouldnor Underwater Settlement and Wooden Structure submitted by dodomad : Divers examine core from undersea forest English Heritage divers in the Solent, examining core samples of the remains of the undersea oak forest discovered near Hurst spit. English Heritage Pic by Phil Yeomans Discovery not from this site but bringing together images from sites under the Solent. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.

Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
SZ3689 : Beach below Bouldner view point car park by J W Parker
by J W Parker
©2013(licence)
SZ3689 : Shoreline at Bouldnor by Graham Horn
by Graham Horn
©2007(licence)
SZ3689 : The sea wall at Bouldnor by Steve Daniels
by Steve Daniels
©2010(licence)
SZ3689 : The sea wall at Bouldnor by Steve Daniels
by Steve Daniels
©2010(licence)
SZ3689 : View through the trees at Bouldnor by Steve Daniels
by Steve Daniels
©2010(licence)

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 4.6km SSW 200° Afton Down* Barrow Cemetery (SZ352857)
 4.8km SSE 167° Compton Down (IOW)* Barrow Cemetery (SZ3779685360)
 5.1km SSE 153° Shalcombe Down* Round Barrow(s) (SZ3902285453)
 5.2km SSE 150° Shalcombe Manor* Round Barrow(s) (SZ393855)
 5.3km SSE 155° Brook Down Five Barrows* Barrow Cemetery (SZ390852)
 5.4km SW 215° Long Mortuary Enclosure, 800mtr West of Freshwater Bay House* Barrow Cemetery (SZ3362785568)
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 6.2km SE 145° Chessell Down - Coombe Plantation* Round Barrow(s) (SZ4027684964)
 6.3km SW 222° Tennyson Monument Enclosure* Misc. Earthwork (SZ32498533)
 6.3km SW 222° Tennyson Down Field System* Ancient Village or Settlement (SZ32508532)
 6.5km SW 225° Highdown barrows* Round Barrow(s) (SZ32168535)
 6.6km SE 144° Mottistone Down* Barrow Cemetery (SZ40628469)
 6.7km SW 231° Heatherdown* Round Barrow(s) (SZ31508570)
 6.8km SW 232° Headon Warren* Round Barrow(s) (SZ314858)
 6.8km SSE 147° Mottistone Common Bowl Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (SZ40428429)
 7.0km SE 146° Long Stone (IOW)* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SZ40718422)
 7.2km SE 145° Castle Hill, Mottistone* Hillfort (SZ409841)
 7.5km SE 137° East Westover Down - Tennyson Trail* Round Barrow(s) (SZ41868461)
 7.5km SE 141° Black Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (SZ415842)
 7.6km SE 124° Pitts Down Field System* Ancient Village or Settlement (SZ4301885795)
 7.6km SE 131° Brighstone Forest 1* Barrow Cemetery (SZ4252285049)
 7.8km ESE 120° Newbarn Combe Enclosures Ancient Village or Settlement (SZ435861)
 7.9km SW 230° West High Down* Round Barrow(s) (SZ30678495)
 8.0km SSE 157° Sud Moor* Round Barrow(s) (SZ399827)
 8.4km ESE 109° Round Copse* Round Barrow(s) (SZ447873)
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"Bouldnor Underwater Settlement and Wooden Structure" | Login/Create an Account | 9 News and Comments
  
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Radio 3 Documentary: Under the Water - Bouldnor Cliff by Andy B on Tuesday, 05 June 2018
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Sunday Feature: Under the Water, The Radio 3 Documentary

Rikke Houd accompanies a team of maritime archaeologists who are racing against time and tide at a submerged Mesolithic site off the southern coast of England at Bouldnor Cliff.
3 June 2018
25 days left to listen or free download
44 minutes
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b527nz
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    Re: Radio 3 Documentary: Under the Water - Bouldnor Cliff by Andy B on Tuesday, 05 June 2018
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    More details from Rikke's web site:
    Under the Water – BBC Radio 3 Sunday Feature
    Presented and produced by Rikke Houd.
    A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio Three.

    8000 years ago, the area between what is now Britain and the Continent was a fertile land of rivers, forests and hills, inhabited by our forefathers. It might even have still been possible to walk between England and Denmark, despite rising water levels following the last ice-age. That all ended when a huge underwater landslide off the coast of Norway created a tsunami that flooded this landscape submerging the Dogger Hills and creating the North Sea and the English Channel – “the first Brexit”.

    In this documentary, I accompany a team of maritime archaeologists to a Mesolithic site at Bouldnor Cliff, off the southern coast of England. The team races against time and the tide to explore layers of sediment that bury memories of prehistoric existence. As the currents reveal treasures held for thousands of years in the mud, they become vulnerable to being washed away for ever. At every opportunity they retrieve artefacts from this settlement that reimagine the understood chronology of human development in these parts – its climate, skills and lifestyle .

    With contributions from Garry Momber and Jan Gillespie of the Maritime Archaeology Trust and Professor Nigel Nayling from the University of Wales, Trinity St David’s.

    http://rikkehoud.dk/radio/under-the-water-bbc-radio-3-sunday-feature/
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DNA evidence shows cultural connections between Britain & Europe 8,000 years ago by Andy B on Tuesday, 24 March 2015
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DNA evidence shows surprise cultural connections between Britain and Europe 8,000 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwRPIQjF308

Prof Vince Gaffney - What new DNA evidence can tell us about our history

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtXNQs-yWcs&feature=youtu.be
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Wheat DNA shows surprise cultural connections between Britain and Europe 8,000 yr ago by Andy B on Tuesday, 24 March 2015
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DNA from wheat shows surprise cultural connections between Britain and Europe 8,000 years ago

New evidence shows wheat reached Britain 2,000 years before the arrival of wheat farming * Mesolithic Britons interacted with Neolithic Europeans * Shows Britain not be insular or isolated - early communities had social and trade networks linking them across Europe 8,000 years ago

New research suggests that the ancient British were not cut off from Europeans on an isolated island 8,000 years ago as previously thought. Evidence has been found for a variety of wheat at a submerged archaeological site off the south coast of England, 2,000 years before the introduction of farming in the UK.

The research team argue that the introduction of farming is usually regarded as a defining historic moment for almost all human communities leading to the development of societies that underpin the modern world.

Published in the journal Science, the researchers suggest that the most plausible explanation for the wheat reaching the site is that Mesolithic Britons maintained social and trade networks spreading across Europe.

These networks might have been assisted by land bridges that connected the south east coast of Britain to the European mainland, facilitating exchanges between hunters in Britain and farmers in southern Europe.

Called Einkorn, the wheat was common in Southern Europe at the time it was present at the site in Southern England – located at Bouldnor Cliff.

The einkorn DNA was collected from sediment that had previously formed the land surface, which was later submerged due to melting glaciers.

The work was led by Dr Robin Allaby of the University of Warwick, in collaboration with co-leads Professor Vincent Gaffney of the University of Bradford and Professor Mark Pallen of Warwick Medical School, the Maritime Archaeology Trust, the University of Birmingham and the University of St. Andrews.

Dr Allaby, Associate Professor at the University of Warwick’s School of Life Sciences, argues that the einkorn discovery indicates that Mesolithic Britain was less insular than previously understood and that inhabitants were interacting with Neolithic southern Europeans:

“8,000 years ago the people of mainland Britain were leading a hunter-gatherer existence, whilst at the same time in southern Europeans farming was gradually spreading across Europe.

“Common throughout Neolithic Southern Europe, einkorn is not found elsewhere in Britain until 2,000 years after the samples found at Bouldnor Cliff. For the einkorn to have reached this site there needs to have been contact between Mesolithic Britons and Neolithic farmers far across Europe.

“The land bridges provide a plausible facilitation of this contact. As such, far from being insular Mesolithic Britain was culturally and possibly physically connected to Europe.

“The role of these simple British hunting societies, in many senses, puts them at the beginning of the introduction of farming and, ultimately, the changes in the economy that lead to the modern world”.

“The novel ancient DNA approach we used gave us a jump in sensitivity allowing us to find many of the components of this ancient landscape”

Commenting on the research’s findings Professor Vincent Gaffney, research co-lead and Chair in Landscape Archaeology at the University of Bradford, said:

“This find is the start of a new chapter in British and European history. Not only do we now realise that the introduction of farming was far more complex than previously imagined. It now seems likely that the hunter-gather societies of Britain, far from being isolated were part of extensive social networks that traded or exchanged exotic foodstuffs across much of Europe.

“The research also demonstrates that scientists and archaeologists can now analyse genetic material preserved deep within the sediments of the lost prehistoric landscapes str

Read the rest of this post...
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Solent's Stone Age village 'washing away' by davidmorgan on Sunday, 30 November 2014
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In 1999, a team of divers off the Isle of Wight came across a lobster busily digging out its burrow. To their surprise they found it was kicking out flints from the Stone Age. However, archaeologists now fear artefacts dating back more than 8,000 years are simply being "washed away".

Bouldnor Cliff is a submerged Stone Age settlement off the coast of Yarmouth which was covered in silt as great sheets of ice melted at the end of the last Ice Age. It is an important site because the muddy conditions have helped preserve organic materials from the distant past that do not normally survive on dry land. The materials date back to a time when the Isle of Wight did not exist and it was possible to walk from Britain to what is now France. "This is an element of our history that is being lost from a unique site. It can add new insights into our human journey from nomad to settler," said Garry Momber, director of the Maritime Archaeology Trust.

Hazelnuts, perfectly preserved leaves and a piece of string which dates to 8,000BP (6,000BC) have been found in the multi-layered sandwich of peat and silt. Hundreds of flint tools have also been found - some still sharper than razor blades - which would have been used as "the disposable knife and fork of the day," Mr Momber added. Other discoveries include a hearth with oak charcoal and flints, which it is thought would have been heated and dropped into water for cooking. The trust says pieces of timber found also show some of the earliest evidence of wood-working.But Mr Momber, who has concerns for the site which was once dubbed "Stone Age Atlantis", said time was running out to excavate the area as storms - together with powerful undercurrents - were "ripping it apart" with artefacts just washing out of the layers of mud. "It's an untapped treasure chest - but artefacts are literally falling out of the cliff," he said. "In some areas the erosion is up to 50cm (20ins) per year. If this continues in the sensitive sites we might only have a few years left before sites are completely lost," he said. The trust said measurements had shown up to 3m (9ft 10ins) had eroded from the site in the past 10 years.

A full excavation of the landscape to record the remains before they are lost for good is estimated will cost in excess of £200,000. About £20,000 would enable rescue excavations to be carried out to save the elements of the site that are most at risk. Mr Momber said: "All it would take to help recover answers from this drowned and forgotten world is a single weekly fee for a Premier League football player. There will be another match. There will not be another Bouldnor Cliff." The site, which is older than the pyramids, which are about 3,000 years old, and Stonehenge, built around 5,000 years ago, shows evidence of people living in a sheltered valley surrounded by trees around a lake and river.

The site shows the possibility that Mesolithic man, who was thought to be nomadic, may have lived and worked in the area. Mr Momber said: "There appears to be evidence of a boat building yard and tools more advanced than anything we've found on land - on a level of 2,000 years ahead all preserved perfectly in the silt underwater." "The sea level would have fluctuated and then at a certain point they have had to leave." Boxes of gathered material from the site are being held at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, with some interconnecting timbers from a possible long boat or structure being preserved at the Mary Rose museum in Portsmouth.

Read more at BBC News:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-29610179
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Bouldnor Cliff - The Big Dig by Andy B on Monday, 02 April 2012
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For 25 years, fishermen, archaeologists and divers have been exploring the remains of a landscape walked by hunters and gatherers 8,000 years ago, and now submerged off the coast of southern England. Garry Momber, Julie Satchell and Jan Gillespie report back from this remarkably preserved lost world.

The coast of central-southern England before the sea rose after the last ice age, showing a former river Solent flowing east and south.

It is well known that after the end of the ice age some 12,000 years ago, the steadily rising sea submerged large areas of land around southern Britain. Much of what is now the North Sea was a plain cut by rivers, streams and marsh. It would have offered some of the most productive opportunities in Europe for hunters and fishers in search of sea and freshwater foods, edible plants, mammals and birds.

The final inundation appears to have occurred quite rapidly, so these flooded landscapes also have much to offer archaeologists. Actual mesolithic land surfaces survive, and materials such as wood, that have normally long disappeared. Chunks of timber have been dredged from the bottom of the North Sea, and in 1932 the fishing vessel Colinda famously brought up an antler harpoon point 40km off land. Rooted tree stumps have commonly been seen around the coast, such as at Pett Level in East Sussex, where mesolithic artefacts have also been found. Human and animal footprints have been recorded on the shores of the Bristol Channel and Lancashire.

Dramatic though such finds can be, their potential to inform us about the world of mesolithic hunter-gatherers between 12,000 and 6,000 years ago can be limited. On the one hand, the sites may be deep under rough seas, far from land and hold immense practical challenges for research. On the other, they may reveal themselves as the modern coast erodes, and be severely damaged before fieldwork begins.

However, a decade ago a unique opportunity arose to investigate an apparently well preserved land surface with signs of mesolithic activity in the Solent, the sea passage that today separates the Isle of Wight from mainland England. Flint tools and wood had been raised there by local fishermen since at least the 1960s. In 1999, mesolithic flint artefacts were found in an ancient ground surface – excavated by a lobster. This was the first time in the UK that mesolithic artefacts had been seen stratified in such a context; and at 11m below sea level, they were at a depth accessible to standard underwater archaeology.

Read more at British Archaeology
http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba121/feat3.shtml
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Mesolithic village of "international importance", evidence of boat building and more by Andy B on Monday, 27 February 2012
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Work on an 8,000-year-old Stone Age settlement under the surface of the Solent in Hampshire is throwing up evidence of clear parallels of the modern "high street", archaeologists say.

After 30 years of excavating the area around Bouldnor Cliff, a boatyard was uncovered last summer, which teams have been working on ever since.

Since The Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology spotted a swamped prehistoric forest in the 1980s, the Stone Age village was found by chance at the end of the last century.

The discoveries, after analysing a mile-long stretch of seabed, are of "international importance" the trust says, because it sheds new light on how people lived in the Mesolithic period.

"One area they were doing boat building, nearby they were on riverbanks and sand bars collecting reeds or doing a bit of fishing or elsewhere they would be hunting game," said director Garry Momber.

"Effectively you have all these activities happening which have strong parallels with the modern high street, but they've all just been a bit consolidated."

[I know high streets are going down the pan these days but it's much worse than I thought! - MegP Ed]

More, with a video at BBC South
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-17046338

and the web site of the Bouldnor Cliff excavation from the Hampshire & Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology
http://www.hwtma.org.uk/bouldnor-cliff

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Further mesolithic discoveries under the Solent by Andy B on Wednesday, 16 February 2011
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I will use this page to pull together other reports of mesolithic discoveries under the Solent:

"Fight on to save Stone Age Atlantis"
News report here:
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=2146413227

Wight Stone Age site surfaces after 8000 years
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=2146413214

Mesolithic camp found at bottom of the Solent
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=2146410702
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Startling evidence of a Stone Age structure in the Solent. by coldrum on Thursday, 01 October 2009
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Startling evidence of a Stone Age structure in the Solent.

DIVING almost blind in the Solent’s murky waters, the team of maritime detectives could just make out the shape of a wooden plank protruding from the muddy seabed.

While it might have been dismissed as underwater junk by the untrained eye, the archaeologists soon realised they had discovered a vital clue to a lost civilisation.

The timber was not isolated. In fact they found another 23 pieces of all shapes and sizes intersecting throughout the underwater cliff off Bouldnor, on the north coast of the Isle of Wight.

They are now convinced the timber is evidence of a huge wooden structure built about 8,000 years ago by our Mesolithic ancestors.

Garry Momber has been excavating the 1km-long site for more than a decade and believes it is the most significant find to date.

“We were in shock,” the Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology (HWTMA) director told the Daily Echo. “This is more comprehensive than anything I thought we would ever find and I’m sure there is an awful lot more to be uncovered.”

Thanks to the protection of the sea, and the absence of oxygen-related erosion, Bouldnor Cliff has been preserved as a remarkable time capsule.

Hundreds of ancient artefacts, including flint, charcoal, string, hazelnuts and the remains of a log boat, have been retrieved from the site since excavations began in 1998.

However, Mr Momber said the latest discovery, made two months ago, would help rewrite the history books, as it was further proof the inhabitants had settled permanently on the banks of the Solent.

“Each piece of timber has very clear and distinct cut marks, so we know they have been worked on,” he said.

“It’s an elaborate framework and the timber appears to be linked. It could be a collapsed structure, or perhaps a platform built close to the waterway.”

He added: “This really pushes forward our understanding of the area because it shows they were well established and capable of craftsmanship.”

This summer’s three-day dive cost £3,600, a sum covered by donations and support from the National Oceanography Centre.

But as erosion steadily sweeps away the site, it is a race against time before the ancient artefacts are lost to Mother Nature.

Mr Momber today calls on local and national businesses to support the Trust so that it can launch a full-scale excavation next year.

“This really is of national and international significance – there is nothing else like it in the UK,” he said.

“The race is on to save what we can now. If we don’t act now, these findings could be lost forever.”

http://www.thisishampshire.net/news/4651158.The_secrets_of_the_deep/
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