Akeld : Palaeolithic and Mesolithic (500,000 BC – 5000 BC)

Research in the vicinity of Milfield village to the north did not produce diagnostic Late Upper Palaeolithic finds, and it seems likely that this area was not densely settled until the Late Mesolithic (Waddington 1999, 180-1). There are no recorded sites on the Northumberland Sites and Monuments Record for either the Upper Palaeolithic or Mesolithic periods within the Akeld study area. Mesolithic artefacts were found between NT 9531 and 9733, though it is unclear exactly where.

The Cheviot slopes south of Akeld, in common with other upland areas in the Cheviots, would have been wooded throughout the Mesolithic and may have been exploited on a seasonal basis by hunting or foraging parties. As the gravel terraces adjacent to the alluvial floodplain of the rivers Till and Glen are thought to have supported year round Mesolithic occupation, the scarcity of recorded Mesolithic finds in the Akeld area probably reflects the lack of detailed research, rather than genuine absence of occupation.