The setting of the discoveries (1947–9) described in this paper is the relatively flat and low-lying basin of the easterly and coastal end of the Vale of Pickering in north-east Yorkshire. Abounding hereabouts are many ditches nearly all of which serve as field boundaries draining what is mostly quagmire of varying depth. These empty their waters into the Hertford river or Muston Drain, a canalised version of an ancient stream which rises near the coast and flows directly inland. Sections revealed in these drains, supplemented by borings, show the area around Flixton to possess a stratified series of Late Glacial and Early Post-glacial deposits distinct from anything yet known in the greater part of the Vale to the west. Although the Pleistocene geology of the Vale of Pickering is not yet adequately understood, the presence of these deposits makes the Flixton area of far more than local interest.

During the early part of the summer of 1947, I examined some gravels forming an exposure in the face of a ditch. Nothing of archaeological interest was seen at the time, but one week later I made a second, somewhat casual, scrutiny of the same section and upon this occasion I found and extracted the flint blade which presaged a closer scrutiny of the section and eventual excavation within the area (Site 1). It was not until the excavation of Site 1 had been nearly completed (Nov. 1948) that other sites were located.