Pre-Historic Thorney
St Nicholas Time Line: Pre-Historic Thorney
When considering Thorney Island of 4-5000BC, it is important to consider the effect of sea level rise since that time. Since prehistoric times, the sea level has risen 6-7m, at an average of 1mm per year. The area we know as Thorney Island would have been less of an Island, the nearby marshes could have been well drained and fertile, cut by narrower channels as low tide harbour we know today.
A flint axe head dating from 1800BC was discovered in the marshes and is now in the Sussex Archaeological Museum at Lewes. Flint /chert nodules widely abound our shoreline, being washed out of the chalks and clays of the South Downs. We have a hard band of Chert below the graveyard about 2m deep. It makes for hard going when we sank the earths for our lightning conductor. A hard crystalline material , flint flakes into sharp edges, so used by early man for making cutting, scraping and shaping tools. Today, surgeons use flint scalpels as they are so sharp and keep their keen edge.
Perhaps our Thornham Axe was lost while cutting trees for timber or firewood or discarded when better bronze or iron axe heads could be traded? High tides in 1800BC would roughly be where we see low tides today. See our page on sea level rise.
Evidence of early occupation is mainly by the pottery found on Thorney Island, when excavations for the Officers Mess discovered an earthenware bowl. Other pottery found in the vicinity from Roman times is on display in our Vestry exhibition.
