Monument record 1474/0/0 - Sand islands, Lindow Moss

<1> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER, R.C.Turner, 1984, see CHER 1474/0/1 (Oral Communication). SCH2330.

Two partly peat covered sand islands survive in the present Lindow Moss and they are good candidates for settlements contemporary with the bog bodies. One is bisected by a major drainage ditch. At the given NGR (SJ 8189 8075), a ditch can be seen in section filled with grey sand and charcoal and covered by c.1m of peat. As the peat bog grew, then landscapes would become buried. Geophysical survey failed to locate any buried features.

<2> Turner R C, 1987, Preliminary Report of the Lindow Moss Excavations 1987 (Unpublished Report). SCH2720.

Excavations within the area of Lindow Moss were undertaken in 1987 following the discovery of the Lindow III bog body (CHER 1473/0/3). Two of the trenches excavated (Trenches 2 and 3) targeted the two sand islands, with the aim of identifying activity contemporary with the bog bodies, also to investigate the relationship of the sand islands to the peat bog.
A deep drainage ditch crosses the western sand island, the 1987 investigations recorded a section of the ditch, with the junction of the sand and peat at its centre. In the break of slope of the sand island, there was an accumulation of layers of peat and sand with numerous charcoal fragments (CHER 1474/0/1), underlying a layer of peat. A 4m by 2m trench (Trench 2) was excavated alongside the section to investigate the charcoal-rich deposit, of which samples were taken.
A circa 36m by 2m trench (Trench 3) was excavated across the second more easterly sand island, higher than the first and extending further into the peat bog. The trench was located down the hill slope and into the bog fringe. Within the B horizon of the podsol, above the level of the peat, a small scatter of flints (CHER 1474/0/2), were found consisting of 21 pieces, including two blades, a possible scraper, and small waste flakes in a non-local, grey-brown flint suggestive of a Neolithic date. The pieces are probably in the position where they fell. The junction of sand and peat recorded in the trench was similar to that of the more westerly island.
The charcoal-rich soil deposit is thought to represent evidence for human activity including clearance and possible cultivation/settlement resulting in erosion of the islands' surfaces. The flint scatter could be contemporary with these events.

<3> Turner R. C. & Scaife R. G. A (eds), 1995, Bog Bodies. New Discoveries and New Perspectives, p.17 (Book). SCH4324.

The small excavation, trench 2, was laid out to look in more detail at the interface between the charcoal-rich soil and the fen carr woodland…a radiocarbon date was obtained from the charcoal of 4980+/-70 BP, or 3030 BC (HAR-8875). This lies in the early Neolithic and is contemporary with the Elm Decline, an event recorded by pollen analysts across the British Isles.

<4> Leah, MD; Wells, CE; Appleby, C; Huckerby, E, 1997, The Wetlands of Cheshire (North West Wetlands Survey 4), p.49, 62-3 (Monograph). SCH3260.

The 1987 excavations at the Lindow Moss sand island demonstrated the presence of macroscopic charcoal in quantity at the interface between a paleosol developed on the sandy mineral ground and overlying fen-carr peats. This was interpreted as the effects of Neoloithic buring of vegetation which produced a podsol and encouraged development of a heath vegetation sometime around 3970-3640calBC, a date very similar to that recorded Elm Decline at Red Moss. Fen-carr woodland subsequently encroached up the sand island resulting in paludification or formation of peat land. The sigificance of the findings is that they demonstrate that human activity was directly affecting the mire enviornment in the Neolithic and was aiding the spread of the mire across drier parts of the site by encouraging acidification and degradation of the soils.