Living in the Stone Age Lunt Meadows Nature Reserve in Sefton was once home to Merseyside’s earliest-known residents – stone age hunter-gatherers. Today, the Lancashire Wildlife Trust is connecting visitors with our ancient ancestors. Heritage and Conservation Trainee Amy Birtles explores their world.
An archaeologist from University of Chester stitches a coiled basket from rushes and red deer bone by Julia Simons
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hen most people hear “prehistoric humans” or “stone age people”, they think of cavemen who had just discovered fire. Conversely, people alive 10,000 years ago (in the Mesolithic period) were remarkably advanced, using skills and techniques which were passed down through countless generations before they were lost in the modern age. It’s truly amazing what people were able to achieve without any of the technologies that we are so reliant on today. They were nomadic too – remains of shelters and ‘everyday’ activities at Lunt Meadows tells us that the site was not a permanent settlement, rather a place which groups of travelling huntergatherers returned to several times over many years. Recent discoveries have taught us that prehistoric humans probably had more leisure time than people today. It
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A late-Mesolithic arrow replica – the flint is glued to the stick using birch tar glue by Molly Toal
was previously thought that ancient peoples spent their lives fighting hard for survival. In fact, they were so skilled and knowledgeable about the world around them and how to utilise their resources that they had plenty of time to socialise, create, and develop culture. The lives of Mesolithic humans were so advanced that archaeologists are still trying to figure out how they did it. The methodology and purpose behind stone circles are an example of stone age technology we’re still debating. Theories range from solar calendars to ancient rituals, but we still don’t really know how or why these monuments were built. Experimental archaeologists and bushcraft experts have worked out some of the more practical technologies though, and we can re-create them in the modern day. Mesolithic humans knew how to braid cordage and weave baskets from
LANCASHIRE & NORTH WEST MAGAZINE
Participants at a prehistoric skills workshop show off their glass arrowheads. These were made by knapping, a skill Mesolithic people used to make stone tools by Julia Simons
numerous plants, create precision tools from chunks of flint, and manufacture ultra-strong glue from the tar and resin found in trees. Tree glue, namely birch tar and pine resin, was a vital part of any stone age toolkit. It was used to haft flint shards and feathers to arrows, knife blades to handles, and more. Both pine resin and birch tar may have been used for medicinal properties too. Birch tar is extracted by burning birch bark and collecting the evaporated vapours on a smooth stone. We can only guess how our ancient ancestors realised this technology, but we know for certain it had many vital applications in their lives. A 5,700 year old chunk of birch tar was found in Denmark which showed teeth marks, evidence that it was used as a chewing gum.
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