Tracks & Traffic

We have now set the scene for the first actors. Stone-wielding hunters and gath-erers followed the plentiful game across the high, dry, heath; lived in tents of skin and branch, and left no impress upon the landscape. There were probably few game-trails for men to follow and make their own hereabout, since the generally firm ground permitted movement in any direction, while only the largest brooks were any obstacle. The heaths, bogs, and forests of the Birmingham Plateau were always last to feel the impact of invading cultures with improved organisation and techno-logy : the few inhabitants were rootless Stone-Age hunters when more accessible areas were already being changed by the metal axe and the plough.

The main trade route of the region, perhaps from Neolithic times to the Roman Peace, was but a few miles to our west. Originating on Cardigan Bay, it came via Bewdley to the Clent Hills : from this local cross-roads one track came north across the heights of Quinton and Warley to Barr Beacon and Cannock Chase. These tracks were true 'ridgeways' keeping to high dry open country whenever possible. That our immediate area had some contact with trade is suggested by the C19 find in Gillott Road of a finely-made arrowhead of flint.

5.1. Map 3

This, the first Neolithic find in the city, was certainly not made locally, for flint is lacking as would be the skill to work it. One find does not make a farm, of course, and we have no evidence of set-tlement hereabout in any prehistoric period.