Until the recent discovery of the house at the Star Carr archaeological site, the Howick House was believed to be the oldest Mesolithic house in the United Kingdom. The hearths located inside of the hut were radio carbon dated to around 7800 BCE. The site is the oldest settlement in the Northumberland area. In addition to the hut, there is a cemetery consisting of five Bronze Age graves at the site.
According to archaeologists, the resources in the area surround the hut allowed its occupants (stone age hunter-gatherers) to live there year-round. In 2005, a team of archaeologists decided to reconstruct the hut – in a nearby area close to the original site – for the BBC documentary series “Coast.”
