London, Feb 4 : Archaeologists have found hunting tools at the site of a new shopping centre in the ancient town of Bath in England, that extends the history of the city thousands of years further back.
Archaeologists have found hunting tools at the site of a new shopping centre in the ancient town of Bath in England, that extends the history of the city thousands of years further back.
The discoveries were made while a new sewer was being dug at the site.
According to a report in Western Daily Press, this discovery, consisting of flint tools found in alluvial deposits at the site, is the first evidence of human activity near the banks of the River Avon.
These findings date back to 8,000 BC, which is before any kind of recorded history and even before the idea of farming had reached the British Isles.
The first Bathonians were hunter- gatherers, following herds of deer and other game along the river valley, attracted by the hot springs and the plentiful fish in the River Avon, the report said.
According to Bath and North East Somerset archaeologist Richard Sermon, on the spot where people would later settle and use the hot springs, the first Bathonians made tools, fished and left scraps of archaeological evidence.
"The hunter-gatherers would have been attracted by the game here and the fishing, and possibly by the micro-environment caused by the hot springs. It takes the history of Bath right back to 8,000BC," said Sermon.
"It's not perhaps rewriting the history of Bath, but giving us a new chapter. It tells us that people came here that long ago. Flint tools and other items were found in the alluvial deposits," he added.
"Previously, archaeological interest has been on the Roman and medieval times in Bath, but this has given us a glimpse right back into the very first people who would have come to what is now Bath," said Sermon. (ANI)
© 2007 ANI
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