REMAINS from a Stone Age campsite have been unearthed in the North-East.

Volunteers from the North Pennines AONB Partnership’s Altogether Archaeology Project made the discovery on land belonging to Northumbrian Water, in Upper Teesdale, County Durham.

The project began after a large number of stones were seen sticking out of eroding peat at Natural England’s Moor House Upper Teesdale National Nature Reserve.

About 1,500 pieces were found at the dig, which took place in August, ranging from finished objects through to debitage - waste flakes left from artefact production.

The finds date back to the Mesolithic period, the earliest period from which there is evidence of people in the North Pennines.

Most of the pieces are very small and include chert, which is a locally found stone, and flint that may have come from Yorkshire.

Paul Frodsham, the Partnership’s Historic Environment Officer, who arranged the dig with fellow archaeologist Rob Young, said: “It was very lucky we were alerted to the stones, which we refer to as lithics, before they disappeared and we lost an important piece of history.

“As well as the finds, which are now carefully catalogued and dated, we also took some samples that will be radiocarbon dated and hopefully tell us about the site’s changing environment, both during and after its occupation.

“Unfortunately no structures, like houses or wigwams were found, but it was very interesting nonetheless.

“It gives us an insight into what life was like in Upper Teesdale and for the first people who lived here after the end of the Ice Age, perhaps 300 generations ago.”

It is thought that the site was a hunting camp, occupied for a few days each year by bands of hunter gatherers and dates from about 7,000BC, about three or four millennia before the introduction of the farming.

While camping there, the people may have taken advantage of seasonal resources such as fish in the river, berries or nuts, wild cattle or deer.

Heather McCarty, from Natural England, added: “We are very pleased at the way in which the partners and the volunteers in particular, have all worked together to enable this important dig to go ahead in a short timescale.

“The dig has greatly increasing our knowledge of the history of the area and tells us a lot more about the early human occupation in Upper Teesdale.”