The River Terrace, Caton, Lancashire Archaeological Excavation Assessment Report

An Archaeological Excavation was carried out bu Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) on behalf of United Utilities Ltd, on Caton River Terrace, Caton, Lancashire (SD 529 643) during November and December 2002. The work was required to investigate a concentration of flint fragments retrieved during topsoil stripping in advance of a pipeline.

The excavation revealed extensive plough truncation across the site, and no unequivocal archaeological features were were recorded. There was, however, a large assemblage of worked Mesolithic and Neolithic flint and chert within the plough-soil across the site, suggesting that the riverside location had once been a significant focus of prehistoric activity. An assemblage of finds from the medieval and post-medieval periods attest to the probable dumping of waste material on the land in the later period.