Tour of the Excavation
Collaged from text in the ‘Ice Age to Iron Age’ gallery at the Great North Museum, Newcastle, UK
The enigma is why this civilisation became extinct at the same time as a peak in carbon 14, which is a natural element, but in an unusual arrangement. More than 100 ideas have been put forward, including warfare, ritual activity, and technology which aimed to capture carbon or shape the landscape. Some even imagine that people left for a nomadic existence as hunter-gatherers.
There is very little surviving evidence. Settlements were submerged by rising sea levels; metal and bones are rarely found due to the acidity of the local soils.
We know that these people had a concept of history: our excavations discovered a house built for collecting and recording the past. This is a rubbing stone, used with a flint to light fire. How do you feel when you handle it?
They also created art. Stone surfaces, carved with abstract imagery, can be found throughout this site. The meanings of these symbols are lost to us today, yet they clearly held significance for their creators. Look at the different patterns: the simplicity of the spirals, the distinctive leaf-shaped designs. Trace them with your finger.
This is a battle axe made from granite. It is likely that fighting sometimes scoured the surface of the land. But burial monuments suggest that people had a belief in the afterlife and higher power.
Here is the most important find. Pollen is a virtually indestructible, microscopic part of a plant. It’s being used in a research project, to create seeds. Experiments show that these vast, treeless plains could easily be transformed.
Both tools and pollen being deposited in one place provides evidence that, even as technology became increasingly sophisticated, people still honoured a relationship with the land.
Look through the viewers to see what a grain of pollen looks like. Here, please touch. Thousands could fit into the palm of your hand.
Laura Webb (she/they) is a junior doctor whose writing explores themes of illness and healing, working-class history and the climate crisis. She co-edits Consilience, a journal for art and poetry about science. Instagram: @laurawebbpoetry
