Lismore Fields is the site of a Stone Age settlement in the town of

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, England. It was discovered close to the River Wye in 1984 by the Trent and Peak Archaeological Trust during a search for a Roman road. The site is a protected

Scheduled Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

The first inhabitants of Buxton made their home at Lismore Fields 6,000 years ago. Excavation of the prehistoric settlement discovered the remains (floors, post holes and pits) of a Mesolithic timber roundhouse and of two

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

longhouses. The layout of these buildings can be clearly seen from the positions of the post holes. Flint implements were also found. Lismore Fields could be the earliest cereal cultivation site discovered in Britain. Cereal stores were revealed by the archeologists. Pollen analysis of soil samples and charred plant remains uncovered evidence of

emmer wheat Emmer wheat or hulled wheat is a type of awned wheat. Emmer is a tetraploid (4''n'' = 4''x'' = 28 chromosomes). The domesticated types are ''Triticum turgidum'' subsp. ''dicoccum'' and ''Triticum turgidum ''conv.'' durum''. The wild plant is ...

, crab apples, hazelnuts and flax. Researchers believe that this ancient site marks the period when Stone Age people developed from hunter-gatherers to farmers. The "Lismore Pot" is a 5,500 year-old Grimston-ware bowl,{{Cite web, url=https://www.wondersofthepeak.org.uk/objects/1-26/, title=Grimstone-ware bowl, last=, first=, date=, website=www.wondersofthepeak.org.uk, url-status=live, archive-url=, archive-date=, access-date=2020-02-22 pieced together from pottery fragments, and is one of the oldest pots ever found in Britain. It is on display in the Buxton Museum. Lismore_Stone_Age_Pot

References

Archaeological sites in Derbyshire Scheduled monuments in Derbyshire Buxton