There is evidence of occupation of the area by people from Mesolithic times onward. In the Neolithic period, people started to manage animals and grow crops on farms cleared from the woodland, rather than act purely as hunters and as gatherers. It is also likely that extraction and smelting of mineral ores to make metal tools, weapons, containers and ornaments started in the late Neolithic, and continued into the bronze and Iron Ages. An earthen ring at Parracombe is believed to be a Neolithic henge dating from 5000–4000 BC, and Cow Castle, which is where White Water meets the River Barle, is an Iron Age fort at the top of a conical hill.