such as a circular ditch (which would indicate ancient activity). Excavations began in 1998 where unusual marks had been noted in 1995 during a drought. Instead of the medieval ditch the marks were thought to denote, the ditch of an Iron Age hill fort was revealed. As of 2009 the excavations are ongoing. Before these excavations began, relatively little was known about the prehistory of the Stockport area before about 1,200 BC. It was generally thought that the areas of Marple and Mellor had been mostly untouched by prehistoric human activity, including during the Romano-British period. Little is known about Iron Age activity in North West England as pottery is rare on the sites excavated in the region, and there is a dearth of settlement sites. Of the more than 1,300 hill forts found in England relatively few are in the northwest. The paucity of known sites led archaeologist Colin Haselgrove to describe the region as a "black hole" for the Iron Age. Mellor is the only hill fort in Greater Manchester, and one of four known Iron Age settlement sites in the county. History There is evidence of human activity on the site pre-dating the Iron Age, as far back as 8,000–6,000 BC. During this period Mellor may have been a knap site where flint tools were produced, and also may have been a seasonal camp. Over 200 lithics have been recovered and range from the early to the late Mesolithic. A high proportion of the flints are bladed tools, indicating that the people who produced them were hunter gatherers. Bronze Age artefacts are rare on the site, and there is no definitive indication of habitation in this period. Despite this, it is likely that the long-term habitation of the site had its roots in the late Bronze Age. A flint dagger was discovered on the site. This type of artefact is rare in Greater Manchester; the nearest comparable site is in Saddleworth. Its presence has been taken as an indication that during the Bronze Age the site was used for funerary practices. Many of the hills near Mellor are surmounted by Bronze Age funerary monuments such as Brown Low, Shaw Cairn, and Werneth Low, supporting the possibility that Mellor was also a funerary site. Also dating from the Bronze Age and found on the site was a rare high-status amber necklace. Amber does not occur naturally in Britain