Hawkcombe Head is the site of a Late Mesolithic hunting camp. The site was being destroyed by off road vehicles. Bristol University set up a Fieldschool and are undertaking excavations of the site.
Hawkcombe Head is a site of considerable archaeological significance because the flint typology suggests that it was in use at the end of the later Mesolithic period (circa 7000-4000 BC). There is a paucity of late Mesolithic sites in south-west England, and Hawkcombe Head provides a valuable opportunity to increase the British database for this period. The topographical setting has the potential for the preservation of organic material which can be used both for radiocarbon dating and environmental reconstruction. The fieldwork is of crucial importance because the site is currently being destroyed by erosion resulting from vehicle access across parts of it. The recovery of disturbed material and excavation will enable the site to be properly recorded with the surface flint material preserved.
The site was discovered in 1942 by A.L. Wedlake. Since then flint from the Mesolithic period has been found across a wide area. The flint represents a substantial collection from the later Mesolithic period and includes at least 160 cores and 56 microliths. The raw material consists largely of beach pebble.
Hawkcombe Head must be viewed in its wider landscape context because of the recovery of Mesolithic material form sites along the Exmoor coast. Isolated finds have been recovered from the Porlock Bay and Minehead area. There is the potential to link the site with the submerged forest at Porlock, where Mesolithic flint was recovered in the 19th century. The project's long-term aims are to facilitate a better understanding of hunter gatherer movements across a wider landscape.
A picturesque, wooded combe called Hawkcombe leads about three miles from the village up to high open moorland. The stream from Hawkcombe runs underground beneath the Overstream Hotel in the center of the village.
At Hawkcombe Head, skilled men worked flint to make arrowheads and tools, leaving offcut chippings to mark the spot. Ancient roads passing close by were routes for traders, linking the area with tiny ports on the North Devon coast and with the Somerset Levels.
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