| Summary : Flint mining complex dated to the earlier Neolithic but with considerable evidence for later activity. Excavations undertaken between 1922 and 1930 by John Pull. The surface earthworks were partly bulldozed in the early 1950s. The site was surveyed by RCHME in 1995 as part of the Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic Project. In addition, aerial photographs pre-dating and post-dating the bulldozing episode were examined in order to discover the full extent of the mining area. See the archive report for full details and a detailed site bibliography. John Pull, who discovered the site in 1922 and excavated there until 1930, depicted the mined area as covering circa 2.5 hectares, although his surviving site plans are quite sketchy, lacking detail. Today, only 12 possible shafts can be identified on the ground. Previous estimates by Pull and the Ordnance Survey suggest anything up to 100 may have existed there. They survive as slight depressions up to 0.25 metres deep. Some shallow spoil heaps can also be discerned, as well as one mound which may represent the remains of Pull's Barrow 3 (TQ 00 NE 43). Pull excavated 8 shafts and 4 "working floors". His finds, along with a single radiocarbon date obtained in the early 1970s from one of his finds, suggest that, as with other South Downs flint mines, the main phase of mining was probably in the early to middle 4th millennium BC. How early mining began and how long after, say, 3500 BC it continued is impossible to say at present. The evidence from the working floors and "barrows" suggests that considerable activity continued until the Early Bronze Age. There are hints that this may have included mining, but at present, re-use of mining spoil and use of the site as a focus for ceremonial and funerary activity seems the most likely explanation. |
More information : (Centred TQ 094 088 (3)) A group of about 100 flint mines on the S spur of Blackpatch Hill, associated with 11 barrows, "dwelling sites" and flaking floors.
FLINT MINES: Several excavated. Essentially a core industry with implements practically identical with those found in Neolithic mines.
'DWELLINGS': (Centred TQ 097090 (3)) Several examined; some were circular excavations with vertical sides and flat bottoms, c 1' in chalk, other saucer-shaped, 8'-20' diameter. No hearths or postholes found but silt at their bottom contained pottery fragments, flint flakes, animal bones etc; thought by Pull to be hut sites.
FLAKING FLOORS 1-4: Floor 2 contained two hearths, and, 16' from shaft 2, a cremation with charcoal, a flint axe, a 'charm of Wealden sandstone' and pottery described as 'British No 1 of Beaker Class'.
Another cremation was found halfway down shaft 7: it consisted of an oval layer of charcoal with bones (cremated elsewhere) with unburnt flint axe, scraper and worked chalk 'charm'.
Some flints are in the possession of the Duke of Norfolk. Beaker pottery was said to have been found by the excavator but that seen at Worthing Museum, where the Pull collection resides, was indeterminate. (1-4)
The area was cleared by bulldozing some years ago, and all that remains are vague unsurveyable undulations in the area of the flint mines and the amorphous remains of a barrow, possibly No. 10 or 11 at TQ 0963 0919 (See TQ 00NE 43). The area is now under pasture. Barrow 9 is visible on RAF AP CPE/UK1751.3155 at TQ 0965 0908 but not on the ground.
Barrow (TQ 09630919) surveyed at 1:2500, site of barrow 9 supplied on 1:2500 AM from RAF APs. (5)
The flint mining complex and associated monuments were surveyed by RCHME in February 1995 as part of a project to record industry and enclosure in the Neolithic. Investigation of the Blackpatch site has included field survey, AP transcription and documentary research. In order to simplify presentation of this information within MONARCH, only the flint mines are dealt with within this record. Separate records have been created for other associated monuments, most notably the barrows (TQ 00 NE 43, 71) and the dwelling sites (TQ 00 NE 69).
The mines were discovered by John Pull in 1922, who began excavating in the same year, with work continuing until 1930. A dispute with the Worthing Archaeological Society led Pull to publish most of his results in local newspapers [a bibliography can be found in the archive report] although he did produce a book on the site for a more general readership. Pull excavated 8 of the flint mine shafts as well as four 'working floors' on the surface. Typical finds included antler picks and items of worked chalk, as well as animal remains and the expected flint-working debris. Shaft 4 contained human remains within its upper fill, while Shaft 7 contained a placed cremation accompanied by a flint axe, knife, and scraper among other items. In the late 1960s the British Museum obtained a radiocarbon determination of 3140+/-150 bc (uncalibrated) from an antler pick recovered by Pull from Shaft 4. However, the fact that it is a single date from a large complex, and has a substantial error range, means that it does little other to confirm that mining was underway by the mid 4th millennium BC. That some form of flint extraction and working was occurring substantially later is indicated by evidence from some of the barrows (see individual records for details) but also by finds from working floor no. 2. which was partially overlain by mining debris and apparently cut by a shaft, yet concealed a cremation associated with Beaker sherds.
Field survey in February 1995 suggested that some features had survived the bulldozing episode, which appears to have occurred around 1950. Although the mined area as indicated by Pull covered c2.5ha, only 12 possible shafts could be identified on the ground, surviving as slight depressions no more than 0.25m deep. Some shallow spoil heaps could also be discerned, plus one mound which may well represent the surviving remains of Pull's barrow 3. See the archive report for full details, discussion and bibliography. (6-8)
Summary of flint mine excavations by Pull. An antler from one of the galleries has produced a radiocarbon date of 3140 +/- 130 BCE. (9)
Report of the 1922 flint mine excavations. The shaft excavated is described as being `a few yards NE of' a symmetrical mound 45 feet in diameter, probably Barrow 1. (10)
Brief account of the barrows which produced flint arrowheads (Barrows3, and 5-7). (11)
Collared urns from Barrows 1 and 8, both Longworth's South-Eastern style Form B11, but unassignable to either primary or secondary series. (12)
Discussion of Saxon and possible Saxon elements in these barrows. (13) |