The Magic of Blick Mead Mesolithic Spring. The Reason Why Stonehenge Wiltshire is Where it is.

Introduction

Blick Mead, is a collection of springs and an archaeological site near Stonehenge. The site has gained significant attention due to its rich prehistoric remains and its potential to shed light on the lives of people who inhabited the area thousands of years before the construction of the more famous stone circle. Located close to Stonehenge it has shown human occupation spanning the Mesolithic to the Neolithic, from 8000 to 4000 BCE. Blick Mead as a Mesolithic site could have been the original landscape feature that - along with good hunting - brought people into the area in the first place. The site is situated on the Salisbury Plain just over a mile from where Stonehenge would be constructed thousands of years later. There is unprecedented array of evidence of large-scale Mesolithic gatherings and extravagant feasting taking place with long distance travelling to the area for these celebrations. The evidence of continuity of occupation from the Mesolithic through to the Neolithic, the period of Stonehenge’s and other monuments in the area, raises the question of why was Stonehenge built here? Was it because Blick Mead is nearby?  As a primary site of gathering and industry in the area, Blick Mead has provided invaluable insights into the early human occupation of the Salisbury Plain and continuity through to the monumental building period of Stonehenge and surrounding monuments.

I have chosen this site as my next post on the Stonehenge region as it is the possible original founding site or “back story” to the whole area’s sacred monumentality. We know that the nearby Durrington Walls (watch this space for a detailed examination) was the likely home of the Neolithic builders of Stonehenge, but Blick Mead, along with the glacial striations under the Avenue at Stonehenge (see my post on The Enigmatic Stonehenge, A Journey Through Space And Time) are good candidates for the original natural monuments that started the sequence of occupation and sacred mythologising of the area.  Indeed, the oldest dwelling so far discovered in the area is here above the spring. The Mesolithic post holes next to the Stonehenge site (probably signifying the nearby presence of the glacial striations that point to the Solstices) add an interesting temporal connection between Blick Mead and the later monument. For these reasons, this post explores what is known about Blick Mead, from its discovery to its archaeological significance and the theories surrounding its uses, practical and ritual and asks the question: Is this where the Stonehenge monumental landscape originated?

Discovery and Excavations

Blick Mead is a chalkland spring that is surrounded by a boggy marsh, frequented by humans from at least 10,000 years ago. Since 2005, archaeologists have been conducting systematic excavations. The fact that the area is spring fed has played a crucial role in its preservation. The constant flow of water at a consistent temperature of 11 degrees Celsius (52F) from the springs has created a unique environment, allowing organic materials such as bone and wood to survive in excellent condition, unlike many other archaeological sites where such materials have long since decayed. The ongoing excavations, led by David Jacques from the University of Buckingham, have uncovered a wealth of artifacts that date back to the Mesolithic period, around 8000-4000 BCE. Over 35,000 worked flints and 2,400 animal bones, some cooked, and a pit dwelling dug into the ground where a previous fallen tree had gouged a pit. Evidence of stones placed to buttress the pits side as well as post holes for a roof point to deliberate construction. These findings suggest that Blick Mead was occupied by hunter-gatherer groups long before the building of Stonehenge, making it one of the most important Mesolithic sites in the region. The large number of worked flints, indicate that the site was a major flint-knapping centre. The flint tools and refuse found at the site provide evidence of sophisticated tool-making techniques used by Mesolithic people.

Mesolithic microliths

In addition to flint artifacts, archaeologists have uncovered a wide range of animal bones including those of a type of auroch called aurochsen (an extinct species of large wild cattle), wild boar, red deer, and other animals. Also, 126kg of burn flint have so far been recovered indicating extravagant feasting at the site. 60% of the bones were from the aurochsen, one of which could feed 200 people alone being so large. This estimate of feasting is taken as conservative. There was an awful lot of partying going on here over a long period of time between 6650-4772 BCE.

These remains suggest that the people who occupied Blick Mead were skilled hunters, relying on the rich resources of the surrounding landscape for their survival. The area at the time was an open lightly wooded area with the presence of large herbivores like the aurochsen keeping the vegetation in check, with plenty of natural vantage points for the Mesolithic hunter. Given these advantages, along with reliable fresh water that never froze,  it is perhaps not surprising the area was occupied for such a long period.

Blick Mead also displays a remarkable range of radiocarbon dates. They span every millennium between 8th and 4th BCE,  A series that is unique in North-Western Europe, and the eight dates in the 5th millennium BCE are the only ones so far discovered in the Stonehenge area. Blick Mead helps us to span the gap between the Mesolithic and Neolithic eras at Stonehenge. It is from this earliest of Neolithic times that a dog tooth was found (resembling an Alsatian’s) whose isotopic analysis shows it was not local to the area but had grown up in Wales. There was also evidence that the dog was living in the area and the tooth was not transported as an artifact for ritual depositing in the spring. Tantalisingly, this suggested Welsh connection dovetails with later Welsh connections to the Stonehenge Bluestones. The dog tooth date is very early and suggests the area was regarded as special and worthy of a journey from Wales at least long before its transformation into a megalithic ritual landscape. Another found artifact at Blick Mead is a piece of slate that comes from Wales or the Welsh borders and which bears a striking resemblance to a kind of middle Mesolithic tool called a Horsham Point, usually identified with the area known as the Sussex Weald. Yet another is a unique (in Britain) sandstone tool made from material only found in the West Midlands.

So, we have evidence of large-scale seasonal gatherings from a wide area at the spring, but recent excavations have also revealed a dwelling as mentioned above. Inside were found a worked sarsen river pebble that could have been a meat tenderiser along with auroch teeth and tiny microliths. Built into the ground at the site of a previously fallen tree, the sides had stones pressed into them for reinforcement and post holes to hold up a roof. The terrace it was built upon above the spring was also a rich source of the 5th millennium BCE radiocarbon dates making Blick Mead one of the latest Mesolithic sites in England. This bridges the gap between Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and the new pastoralists of the Beaker culture that entered Britain a few generations later. Neolithic remains were also found on the terrace, an early scoop and 70 mid Neolithic blades.

Foundation of the Neolithic Ritual Landscape.

The earliest Neolithic monument in the entire landscape, older than Stonehenge, is close to Blick Mead at Coneybury Hill and Henge where a 4th millennium BCE ritual pit was discovered. Named the “Coneybury Anomaly” due to its discovery by geophysical means. The pit held a striking mix of Mesolithic AND Neolithic remains including pottery and leaf shaped arrowheads as well as flint tools from both periods and reflecting both cultures. Could this be evidence of the meeting of the two cultures, feasting and celebrating together as well as ritually depositing their goods? The discovery of a rare rippleflaked oblique arrowhead on the terrace above the Mesolithic layer at Blick Mead reinforces this theory as these are late Neolithic ritual objects also found at Marden Henge, Durrington Walls and Bluestonehenge at the end of the Stonehenge Avenue. These discoveries all link Blick Mead to the Stonehenge era. Blick Mead was known and part of the ritual landscape of the builders of Stonehenge.

Crop Circle At Coneybury Henge

Ritual Use.

An important question about the Stonehenge areas is why were all these monuments and associated burials situated here? The arguments range from the mundane, the area was already partially cleared and ready for building, to the more esoteric of archeoastronomy, knowledge of latitude and religious/spiritual aspects of the Salisbury Plain. The fact that two significant primal geological attributes of Blick Mead and the glacial striations indicating the solstices (the latter memorialised by the Avenue at Stonehenge) are linked by Mesolithic and Neolithic sites, is, in my opinion, the reason all this monumentality built over millennia is situated here. These two geological sites are among the reasons this area would be considered sacred.

Let’s look again at Blick Mead. The constant temperature of the waters, even in the depths of a frozen winter, would not only provide clean safe drinking for humans but other creatures as well, this alone would be attractive to hunters. Also, vegetation would miraculously survive around the springs, warmed by the life-giving waters. Similar phenomena are found near Silbury Hill in Avebury where vegetation remains green all year round due to chalk springs of a constant temperature.  To our ancestors this must have been a sign of the springs’ sanctity. Here alone Winter is defeated, life springs forth. A site of summer survival, of healing and refuge. A site of significance. A liminal space where the sacred is manifest. The waters were a place of veneration. A primal Holy Well.

Supporting the site’s sanctity was the discovery at Blick Mead of Mesolithic people using ochre-stained materials, including stones and flint tools. Ochre, a natural pigment, was used by Mesolithic people for various purposes, including body decoration and possibly ritual practices. Burials are often associated with red ochre at other sites going back to the Palaeolithic period (See the Red Lady of Paviland in Wales). The presence of ochre at Blick Mead indicates that the site may have had a symbolic or ceremonial significance. Another phenomenon could point to its significance in religious terms, indeed its perhaps its foundational role. Also, the abundance of game at the site could have a spiritual aspect. As well as being crucial for food Aurochs were regarded as sacred animals; skulls and bones have been found deliberately deposited in ditches at Stonehenge. Ground penetrating radar recently picked up evidence of a 30ft structure beneath the ground at Blick Mead which was found to be made from carefully placed flints; beneath the platform was a perfectly preserved set of auroch footprints.

Finally, a very unusual marvel may have also underlined the sanctity of Blick Mead to both Mesolithic and Neolithic peoples.

The Red Rocks.

One of the oddest discoveries at the site concerns the major activity at the site, the production of flint tools and a unique property of the waters at Blick Mead. If you remove flint that has been in the spring water for some time and leave it to dry, a quite magical transformation takes place. Before your very eyes the flint turns a vivid magenta pink colour. The transformation from grey stone to pink is enchanting to watch – who knows what it meant to the people who first encountered it. Could it signify a charmed mystical site? A place of magic and transformative power? Imagine placing your recently knapped flint tool in the water, leaving it for a period, perhaps a long time, before removing it and it magically changes colour. Surely this would give the artifact a special property. A magical transformed stone, a colour that would fade over time once you left the area, and only return by reinterring the stone in the enchanted waters. All these unique phenomena must have given the spring an air of magic sanctity.

We now know that the coloration is due to the existence of a very rare algae called Hildenbrandia Rivularis which grows on the cortex of flint nodules and requires very specific conditions of dappled sunlight, slow to no  current, a stable temperature in water around 10-15°C and no competition. All these requirements are present in the waters of Blick Mead.

Conclusion

As we have seen, evidence from the archaeological record shows that Blick Mead was a seasonal or semi-permanent campsite for Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, who returned to the site year after year to exploit its rich resources. The abundance of flint tools and animal remains supports this, indicating that the site and its surrounds were used for both hunting, gathering, tool production and feasting on a considerable scale.

The relationship between Blick Mead and Stonehenge remains a subject of ongoing research and debate. While Blick Mead predates Stonehenge by several millennia, some archaeologists believe that the Mesolithic activity at Blick Mead may have influenced the later construction of the famous stone circle. The glacial striations at Stonehenge that point to the Winter and Summer solstice alignment were always there and the three Mesolithic postholes nearby were probably a marker of this geological connection to the sun’s movements. The idea is that the traditions, rituals, and knowledge of the landscape developed by Mesolithic people at Blick Mead could have been passed down through generations, eventually informing the design and location of Stonehenge.

Moreover, the proximity of Blick Mead to Stonehenge and the finds spanning the eras such as at Coneybury suggests that the area was of long-term significance to prehistoric communities. The continuity of occupation from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic and beyond highlights the importance of this landscape in the prehistoric imagination and raises questions about the cultural and spiritual connections between the two sites.

Blick Mead is a site of immense archaeological importance, offering a window into the lives of Mesolithic people who inhabited the Salisbury Plain long before the construction of Stonehenge. The discoveries at Blick Mead, including flint tools, animal remains, and ochre-stained materials, provide valuable insights into the subsistence strategies, ritual practices, and cultural significance of the site.

The springs at Blick Mead not only contributed to the site's preservation but may also have played a central role in its occupation and spiritual importance. Professor David Jacques of the University of Buckingham believes that Stonehenge may represent a god in the landscape and was probably built after early farmers from continental Europe met up with hunter gatherers from Blick Mead and merged the two cultures. He goes on to argue that all our ideas of how hunter gatherers moved around in dispersed communities needs to Professor David Jacques of the University of Buckingham believes that Stonehenge may represent a god in the landscape and was probably built after early farmers from continental Europe met up with hunter gatherers from Blick Mead and merged the two cultures. Dr Jacques argues that all our ideas of how hunter gatherers moved around in dispersed communities needs to be revised as Blick Mead could be an example of permanent Mesolithic settlement due to the abundance of year-round resources. The ongoing research and excavations at Blick Mead continue to shed light on this enigmatic site, deepening our understanding of the prehistoric landscape around Stonehenge and the people who lived there thousands of years ago. As archaeological work progresses, Blick Mead may yet reveal more secrets about the early human history of the Salisbury Plain and its connection to one of the world's most iconic prehistoric monuments, Stonehenge.

Alexander Peach, Bandung, September 2024.