The Nab Head

This is a promontory site jutting into St Brides Bay about 2 miles north of the village of Marloes. It was an important site in the Mesolithic period and seems to have been in use between about 7000 and 5000 BC.

A large number of flint tools, waste flakes and shaped stone and slate have been found on the site during the last 100 years. Excavations were carried out on the site in 1979 and 1980 in order to determine how much surviving evidence was being washed into the sea.

The range of tools found on Nab Head is similar to that found on the other Early Mesolithic sites in Britain. However Nab Head is unique in Britain in having a greater proportion of triangular flint tools than elsewhere, for its two stone carvings, and for the 500 or more perforated shale beads found on the site. It is thought that these beads were manufactured here and may have been used for trading.

Among the discarded tools and debris of the community living on Nab Head there was a new implement in the form of an elongated pebble that was used for knocking limpets off the rocks.