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

There are no recorded sites on the Northumberland Sites and Monuments Record for either the Palaeolithic or Mesolithic periods within the Alnham study area, though this probably reflects the lack of detailed research in the area, rather than genuine absence of occupation.

Detailed research undertaken in the Milfield basin to the north indicates that Mesolithic populations inhabited a wide range of environments and ecological zones (Waddington 1999, 104 -6).

The Cheviot slopes to the west of Alnham, in common with other upland areas in the Cheviots, would have been wooded throughout the Mesolithic, and it is possible that hunting and foraging parties may have visited these areas on a seasonal basis.