Monument record MDR6513 - Artefact scatters, Mill Farm, Scarcliffe

SK 517 711. Fieldwork by the North Derbyshire Archaeological Trust between 1976 and 1978 revealed some 384 flints from plough soils above Mill Farm, Scarcliffe and suggested an open Palaeolithic site in this locality. The products were of a narrow blade type flint industry and the assemblage comprised mainly waste and core materials. The flint concentration suggested an open camp site of late Upper Palaeolithic /Early Mesolithic date overlooking the Whaley valley and the finds are comparable with material from Mother Grundy's Parlour, Creswell Crags. The site is situated to the south of the Whaley Rock Shelters. Examination by core sampling revealed that over the past ten years ploughing has obliterated stratified evidence. Several rock outcrops below the site may have been used as shelters. This is the first open site of this period to be recognised in Derbyshire. (1, 2) SK 51707115 Mill Farm. Material collected from this site by L. B. Cooper in a series of field-walks on 10-Jan-1978, 25-Jan-1978, 23-Feb-1978, 12-Apr-1978, 19-Apr-1978, 27-Apr-1978, and 03-May-1978: Mesolithic flint including microliths; quantities of Neolithic flint, including a possible fragment from a leaf arrowhead; Bronze Age flint including a barbed and tanged arrowhead and scrapers; several sherds of Romano- British pottery; and sherds of medieval and post-medieval pottery. (3)