Hunter Gathers on Exmoor

As the last Ice Age receded from Exmoor around 10,000 years ago and  the climate warmed, people returned, and by 7000 BC, during a period known as the Late Mesolithic, the landscape had recovered from barren semi-frozen tundra to become deciduous woodland. Only the highest parts of Exmoor remaining devoid of trees. During this time sea levels rose by nearly 40 metres.

Evidence of people populating Exmoor comes from occasional flint finds that were left by small hunter gatherer groups.These hunter gatherer groups visited spring-heads where they knapped small flint pebbles into  arrowheads (called 'microliths') and small blades. Environmental evidence suggests that they probably burned the woodlands to create hunting glades. To date all the sites found on Exmoor lie within 3 kilometres of the coast. One explanation for this is that during the Mesolithic period, as the sea inundated the 'Severn Plain' and formed the Severn estuary, hunter gatherers were forced away from this abundant low-lying land to exploit the upland areas of Exmoor.

Exmoor's hunter gatherers probably lived in small bands of between 10 and 30 individuals carefully harvesting the natural resources of plants, roots, nuts, berries, seafood and wild game. At this time the population of Britain has been estimated at around only 24,400 people. This figure suggests that Exmoor's hunter gatherer population would have been around 50 people. Hunter gatherer sites have been found around the Vale of Porlock, Hawkcombe Head, Larkbarrow and on Brendon Common.

Contributed by: Jim K