| Description | The Sandbeds four Mesolithic flint sites on a terrace overlooking the River Wharfe. The flints were picked up in ploughed fields at c.175 200' O.D. The sites are of importance as examples of a lowland occupation. The terraces along this stretch of the river are potential prehistoric sites and operations such as gravel extraction should be investigated where appropriate. The site locations are extremely uncertain and based on Cowling's published refs/figs (scales poor on latter).
From this inadequate evidence, SMR have allocated following grid refs for the four sites: 1. SE 209 462, 2. SE 215 462, 3. SE 215 463 and 4. SE 220 465. It appears that there were 538 separate collecting episodes on these sites, the collecting being done by E.T.Cowling and members of his family. In addition, T.Wells collected several hundred flints.
Available evidence suggests a minimum of 5,417 flint and chert artefacts including 174 cores, 70 flakes, 82 blades, 21 microburins, 10 graver spalls, 13 awls, 46 microliths, 74 scrapers, 275 gravers, 2 tranchet axes, 8 axes, 8 knives. Present whereabouts of all material unknown, however, Otley Museum hold some of it. |