Alwinton : Neolithic (c. 5000 BC – c. 2000 BC)

Neolithic sites are also unknown within the Alwinton study area, and only one Neolithic find is recorded from the whole of Alwinton parish, a stone axe found in a grass field near Linshiels to the West of Alwinton in 1889 (NSMR 380, NT 890040). Though this area does appear unusually scarce in Neolithic material, no systematic study has yet been undertaken.

While Upper Coquetdale is clearly not directly comparable, Waddington’s work on the landscape of the Milfield basin demonstrates the value of targeted research to the archaeology of this period. As the wide variety of natural resources presented by the Upper Coquet valley would have been very attractive to Neolithic communities, it seems likely that there was some, at least semi-permanent occupation in the Alwinton area by the end of the Neolithic period.