In September 1931 a barbed harpoon made of red deer antler was dredged up by a trawler on the Leman and Ower Banks in the North Sea. This object was found within a block of peat and was in almost perfect condition. Although long believed to be Mesolithic, a radiocarbon date of c. 11,950–11,300 cal. BC was obtained in 1988 - the first direct date for Upper Palaeolithic human settlement on this part of the North Sea Plain.