AONB 6 - Howick excavations Traditional Cache
AONB 6 - Howick excavations
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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The cache is located at just outside the site of the Howick Excavations - there was previously a reconstructed mesolithic hut on the coastal path.
The Northumberland Coast AONB was designated in 1958 and covers 39 miles of coast from Berwick to the Coquet estuary. Within this stretch of coastline is some of the most dramatic coastal scenery in the country with a multitude of special features.
The area is best known for its sweeping sandy beaches, rolling dunes, high rocky cliffs and isolated islands. Amidst this striking landscape is the evidence of an area steeped in history, covering 7000 years of human activity. A host of conservation sites, including two National Nature Reserves, testify to the great variety of wildlife and habitats also found in the AONB.
The coast is home to numerous small communities that continue to face pressures as traditional industries decline in importance, tourism expands and development pressure intensifies.
The Northumberland Coast Path, part of the North Sea Trail, is a 103 kilometre (64 mile) continuous coastal walking route between Cresswell in the south and Berwick-upon-Tweed in the north.
We take Monty the geohound to a beach most days and these caches are set in our favourite ones
The discovery of pieces of flint along the coastal path at Howick in the 1980s and 1990s led to an excavation here between 2000 and 2002. Archaeologists discovered remains of a Mesolithic hut, dated by carbon 14 dating to about 7800BC. It was revealed as stains in the sand from fallen timbers, as well as post holes, stakeholes, stone post-pads, and construction slots. In the centre of the hut was a sequence of intercutting hearth pits, in which a rich assemblage of burnt food remains were found, including hundreds of thousands of charred hazelnut shells. Other finds from the hut include over 13,000 flints, with microliths, scrapers, awls, burins, retouched flakes and blades, cores and debitage present. A few pieces of burnt bone were found from animals such as wild pig, fox, a dog or wolf, and possibly even a brown bear.
As well as the Mesolithic settlement, a group of five Early Bronze Age cist burials were found in the excavations. These stone-lined boxes were covered with local sandstone capstones and contained only a few fragments of bone.
In early 2005 it was decided to brave the inclement seasonal weather of the Northumberland coast to reconstruct the Mesolithic hut as part of the BBC's documentary 'Coast'. Unfortunately the hut was abused and used as a drinking den so was taken down last year sadly.
We have renumbered the caches 1-? to reflect a South to North walk if you are feeling energetic!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
orgjrra tngrcbfg naq srapr