Journals of a Time Traveller

Looking for old images to use on my reconstructed Thetford Forest Archaeology website, I came across some photos of prehistoric struck flint that I had forgotten about. One day in 2019, I was facing a life-changing and very painful process. Consequently I took a walk around the Lynford and Santon areas of Thetford Forest, where I discovered some exposed soils close to the Little-Ouse-River.

Hyper-focus is my distraction method. I was in the heart of Frances Healy's Grimes Graves Belt of late prehistoric flint flake scatters. There in sight of the river meadows, I found some thick clusters of roughly struck flint. It almost felt as though I was walking through the workshops of knappers more than four thousand years ago. I imagined them roughing out flint to transport away on the river. These scatters appear to be multi-period, throughout late prehistory from the Mesolithic, through to the Iron-Age. But perhaps there is a relationship of increased productivity linked to the flint-mines during the Later Neolithic.

Among the rough flakes and waste debris, I saw several flint hammer-stones, including that which I hold in my hand in the image. I had AI time travel back to the very local, Late Neolithic Grimes Graves flint-mine complex. Perhaps the wrist watch spooked the locals. They were quite happy working when I first arrived:

Actually there are a few problems with the above AI-generated image. You see the pick? The shape of a modern pick, rather than a utilised red deer antler as found in excavations of the flint-mine shafts at Grimes Graves. The AI tried, by giving it an antler colour. And the people are possibly a little too fair for Neolithic EEF (Early European Farmers). The housing in the background might be more representative of a later prehistoric time. I discuss these issues of AI time travel reconstruction in another recent post. But I'm glad that the AI hasn't dressed them roughly like Og the caveman, in badly tailored furs.

You can see in the image below, the crazed, impacted face of that hammer-stone. Look how well it fits into my hand. When I pick up something like this, and hold, feel and examine it, I reflect on the unrecorded life of the last person to hold it over 4,200 years earlier. There wasn't much hard stone in the Brecks area, and clearly the late prehistoric knappers would manage to use flint to fracture flint. Perhaps along with soft, organic hammers and punches for finer work? Reconstruction archaeologists find that antler tines make great punches, and are useful for pressure flaking.

Time is a strange thing. Our lives are so brief. The person that made this tool, and who sat here close to a river, thousands of years ago left no name, no ethnicity. We don't know how they identified, or how they saw the Universe. We do not know the course of their life. There were no records. Perhaps, a 140 to 180 generations have passed between the knapper's life, and my own life. Other than this hammer-stone and some lithic debris, they passed through a process of existence that was no less important than that of any other living being. Looking at these artefacts in a landscape helps me deal with the difficult times. My life isn't so important. My issues do not matter across the great span of Time. I survive, as a process, as an observer for now. Just like the person who fashioned and used this tool.

This afternoon, I decided to visit Arminghall Henge. Only 55 minutes cycle ride from my home, it sits just outside of the Norwich southern bypass, near to County Hall. It was not in any way sign posted. Not as much as an information sign. Even though the "Boadicea Way" trail runs right past it:



Indeed, the only way that I found it was through online resources and my GPS:



It was first spotted in 1929 - a first in the history of aerial photography for archaeology. It was excavated in 1935:



The ambiance can only detected by the imaginative. As a seasoned time traveller, it gave me the kick, despite it being in a horse field, with overhead HV power cables, right next to a major power sub station for the City of Norwich:



Not really an attraction for tourists. No standing stones. this is East Anglia, we don't have boulder-stones. The Neolithic creators of this site erected earthworks and massive timbers - the post-holes that sometimes be seen from above. Incidentally, in archaeology, a "Henge" is not a stone circle. Stone circles were sometimes erected inside a henge, often later. It's a circular bank and ditch earthwork, with the ditch on the inside - as though keeping something in - a defensive rampart has the ditch on the outside. A henge keeps something "in". Interesting is that the most famous henge - Stonehenge, breaks that convention.



Looking up at the site of the Henge from the nearby water course at the bottom of the valley.



and the modern water course itself.

If you've seen my posts in this section before, you know that I like to do a little mole hill archaeology:



Yes, that's a flint flake in the mole hill. Displaying it's dorsal surface, showing the scars of previously removed flakes.



An inspection before returning it to it's topsoil context. I'm here showing you the striking platform, point of impact, and conchoidal fracture bulb. On the right, I can tell you it has wear from being used as a "notched flake", maybe to clean a bone, or an arrow-shaft or similar.



Another flint flake, dorsal surface, showing the scars of previously struck flakes from the core.



Finally, more recent archaeology. A lens cap circa AD 2010?

I hope that someone out there gets some enjoyment from these third person explores of East Anglian sites.

Canicross Team Elmewych member Flint, is a three and a half year old saluki lurcher cross, bought from travelers working stock.  A striking, elegant, tall, and well muscled smooth coated lurcher with more than a hint of saluki heritage in his physique.  Flint is at his finest off the leash - he runs with incredible speed, jumps wide ditches with grace.  It seems incredible that he is submissive to his young whippet team mate, but he certainly is!

In the house:  A fearsome watch dog, constantly looking and listening for intruders.  He can be grouchy, overly defensive, and I don't trust him on the leash with larger dogs.  Smaller dogs on the other hand - he adores and fawns.  Perhaps I should have socialised him as a pup with more friendly big dogs?  He might be tall and muscled, but he never packs a gram of body fat - it all goes into muscle, and however much I feed him, his ridged cheetah-back and ribs still stand out as though he is half starved.  Despite his grouchiness - he still likes a cuddle on the couch.

On the canicross line: certainly not a natural, he needs frequent commanding and shouting, otherwise he wants to sniff every lamppost, piss at every tree.  He can be hard work on a line.  What worries him?  Maybe that he'll run out of urine, otherwise big dogs, wheel hub caps (see the below video), and bits of paper laying on the pavement.

Off lead in the field: This dog lives to run.  A joy to watch, so much speed, moves through long grass with ease, jumps over ditches with ease.