Auchenmalg
Two fields at Auchenmalg have yielded a scatter of
Mesolithic flints on or just below the 50' contour. No flints have
been found below circa 35ft.
In an age before metal people used stone to make a sharp edge.
The sites where they worked are known as chipping floors, and are
sometimes still littered with stone. Some of it is waste, but
sometmes broken or lost tools are found. Not all types of stone are
suitable for making tools, and the knapper had to choose the raw
material carefully. The best stone was of uniform texture and had
no cracks or flaws. The hunter gatherers had a good knowledge of
the land and they may have visited certain locations to build up
reserves of useful rocks.
Flint is probably the best known of these rocks, but in Scotland
the supply is small. Beach flint from underwater beds off the Isle
of Man is common in Wigtownshire, but it becomes progressively
scarcer inland.
An old cliff line relating to the time of higher sea levels
surrounds part of the Galloway peninsula, and many mesolithic sites
have been recorded here, particularly around Luce Bay. People
settled on the high land above the beach, choosing locations with
fresh water and setting up camps in sheltered spots slightly back
from the cliff edge. Coastal sites have been traced up the Solway
as far as Redkirk Point, near Gretna, where a hearth has been dated
to 8000 years before the present. Evidence has also been found for
later settlements along the modern day coastline.
http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/62246/details/auchenmalg+bridge/
Access
The beach at Auchenmalg is easily accessible via the A747 which runs alongside.